Article by David Sumner and Damon Reissman posted on Law.com, Dec. 4, 2006: “On Friday, the long-discussed and much-awaited amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) went into effect. Among the elements of these amendments are changes to how electronic evidence is treated in discovery.“This issue and the changes to the rules affect most particularly counsel advising clients in e-discovery matters, but e-discovery and the treatment of information and communications — before discovery is developed or considered, or before lawsuits are filed — are issues critical to e-commerce, and that will become more important as this segment of the economy grows, for businesses and for law firms.
“This article describes how nontraditional sources of electronic data may provide important evidence in investigations. These data sources, including instant messaging (IM), voicemail, Web-based e-mail and sales-management systems, present distinct challenges in terms of procuring and analyzing raw data….”