The starting point for any e-discovery is the rule of proportionality — a party should not be compelled to spend more to produce electronically stored information than the case is worth.

What should the bench do to help lawyers navigate EDD disputes? Courts need to borrow from a 7th Circuit program, which states that “zealous representation of a client is NOT compromised by conducting discovery in a cooperative manner,” says an attorney on the circuit’s EDD committee.

Sanctions are perhaps the most devastating penalty a judge can impose on a party in civil litigation. In e-discovery disputes, sanctions generate a lot of attention, but some judges say the impact is overstated.

E-discovery is a two-edged sword for litigators. Attorneys have much greater access to information than before, but EDD can be an expensive process. Atkinson Diner attorney David B

Some argue that the undue burden to access and review ESI is waning with reduced EDD costs and improved technology. “There is still an undue burden argument to be made depending on a number of factors,” says federal Judge Shira Scheindlin