San Francisco Legal Helps Clients Meet New EDD Requirements
U.S. Supreme Court's FRCP Amendments To Take Effect December 1, 2006
San Francisco, CA — December 1, 2006 — San Francisco Legal (www.sanfranciscolegal.com), a leading litigation support services provider for the San Francisco Bay Area, has implemented new processes and procedures to address the most recent electronic discovery ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Called the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), this series of amendments which take effect December 1, 2006 are designed to address and ameliorate the huge volume and escalating costs of handling electronically stored information (ESI) during the discovery phase of litigation. For example:
- The court's pre-trial scheduling order can include provisions concerning electronically stored information (ESI); therefore, parties must meet and confer regarding e-discovery issues before the pre-trial conference.
- Early ESI identification and assessment is a key element to ultimate compliance.
- Parties may reference "electronically stored information" as a type of business record from which answers to interrogatories may be derived.
- A production request may specify desired e-data format and response must state any objection to the request.
- A "claw back" procedure will be available whereby a party can request the return of inadvertently produced privileged documents.
- There is no duty to produce data reasonably identified as inaccessible, though the court may still order production upon good cause, with conditions.
- "Safe harbor" is allowed for inadvertent e-data loss on "routine, good faith operation" of an IT system and an enforced business retention policy.
The court’s findings include a long list of e-discovery amendments, all of which have important implications for law firms and support services providers,” said Christian Lawrence, CEO of San Francisco Legal. “We’ve studied these changes carefully and can help our clients meet the strict new FRCP rules. Plus, our enhanced digital capabilities positions us to work effectively with clients to cull and classify ESI data.”
Press Contact: Mar Junge, c3PR, 408.730.8506, c. 408.219.0101