Inventus

Judge Scheindlin Issues New E-Discovery Opinion

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Recent Decision by Zubulake judge, Shira Scheindlin, Addresses Both Form of Production and Cooperation

Judge Shira Scheindlin’s new opinion, National Day Laborer Organizing Network v. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, reiterates the importance of metadata and cooperation in e-discovery—two distinct e-discovery notions as one relates to form of production and the other to counsel’s conduct during the discovery process.  This opinion makes a number of important points regarding both concepts, including “that certain key metadata fields are an integral part of public records”, that “production of a collection of static images without any means of permitting the use of electronic search tools is an inappropriate downgrading of the ESI” and “all lawyers … need to make greater efforts to comply with the expectations that courts now demand of counsel with respect to expensive and time-consuming document production.”  Judge Scheindlin even goes on to provide a list of fields she requires for electronic production.

Popular e-discovery expert, Ralph Losey has a link to the full opinion here.