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Opening Program               Annual Luncheon                         Annual Dinner                    

SEVENTH CIRCUIT COMMITTEE ISSUES
REPORT ON E-DISCOVERY REFORMS

      Seventh Circuit Bar Association President Michael D. Monico announced today that the Seventh Circuit Electronic Discovery Pilot Program Committee has issued its Report on Phase One of its multi-year pilot program to reform civil litigation pretrial discovery practice. The Report, which is available on-line, contains what the Committee believes to be guiding principles (“Principles”) for lawyers and their clients to follow when seeking or producing discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”) in civil litigation. The Report also contains an explanation of the reasoning behind the Principles as well as the process the Committee used to draft and promulgate the Principles.
      The Committee is comprised of a diverse group of lawyers from all areas of civil practice including in-house counsel, lawyers in private practice, and government attorneys throughout the three states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin in the Seventh Circuit. A number of non-attorneys interested in the ESI issue are members of the Committee as well. The roster is in the Report.
      Chief Judge James F. Holderman of the Northern District of Illinois and Magistrate Judge Nan R. Nolan, who co-chair the Committee, along with other judges and lawyers will present the Phase One Report at the Seventh Circuit Bar Association’s Annual Meeting and Judicial Conference on Monday, May 3, 2010.
      Monico said “Chief Judge Holderman and Magistrate Judge Nolan created this unique pilot program as a response to concerns voiced by the business community and practicing attorneys regarding the need for reform of the civil discovery process as it relates to electronically stored information.” In September 2009, the Committee adopted what it called its “Principles Relating to the Discovery of Electronically Stored Information.” The Principles provide guidelines to incentivize early and informal information exchange on commonly encountered issues relating to evidence preservation and discovery, paper and electronic, as required by Rule26(f)(2). The Principles also contain novel ideas, such as the use of e-discovery liaisons, to assist parties in efficiently managing pretrial discovery.
      The Phase One Report provides summary information derived from surveys of lawyers and judges regarding the application of the Principles in 93 cases in the Northern District of Illinois from October 2009 to March 2010. The Committee’s Survey Subcommittee worked closely with the Federal Judicial Center and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, to design and administer survey questionnaires to 285 attorneys and the participating judges involved in the Phase One cases. The Phase One Report and data analyses of the surveys are available: click here

                                                                       For more information contact:

                                 Alexandra G. Buck                                                            Steven W. Teppler
                                 Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar &Scott LLP                       Edelson McGuire
                                 54 W. Hubbard St., Ste. 300                                              350 N, LaSalle ST. 13th Floor
                                 Chicago, IL 60654                                                             Chicago, IL 60654
                                 alex.buck@bartlit-beck.com                                               steppler@edelson.com
                                 Phone: 312-494-4400                                                        Phone: 312-589-6370