eDiscovery Daily Blog

• January 12, 2015

In 2011, The Sedona Conference® made a public comments version of the Cooperation Proclamation: Resources for the Judiciary available on the Sedona Conference website. As the Preface states, “The Resources are intended to aid State and federal judges in the management of electronically stored information (“ESI”) in civil actions for which the judges are responsible”. In 2012, the Resources guide was updated. Last month, the Resources guide was updated again and the free version is available on the Sedona Conference web site.

As noted in the Preface, “Whatever the judge’s role, the Resources offer a framework for the management of ESI. This December 2014 edition expands that framework and again focuses on the “stages of litigation from the judge’s perspective,” starting with the preservation of ESI through the initial case management order (whatever that may be called in a specific jurisdiction), the resolution of discovery disputes, trial, and post-trial awards of costs.”

Also new is updated case law and other sources of information. And articles that have not been peer-reviewed, but “which are noteworthy in the opinion of the Senior Editors”, have been included in a new “Addendum.” Finally, this December 2014 edition also “includes a new, separate section on judicial ethics in the context of ESI and presents timely matters for judges to consider.” As noted in the Preface, “The Senior Editors trust that this new section will be the beginning of what will be a continuing—and evolving—dialogue on judicial ethics in the ‘Age of the Internet.’”

In addition to the Preface, the guide includes the same four sections as the 2012 version (Introduction, Review of Existing Literature on E-Discovery for Judges, General Recommendations for Judges and The Stages of Litigation from a Judge’s Perspective), as well as the new ESI-Related Ethics for Judges section and the aforementioned new Addendum.

Once again, creation of the new edition was led by senior editors Ronald Hedges and Kenneth Withers with Karen Van Allen once again serving as editorial coordinator. Judicial Reviewers were:

• Hon. Gill S. Freeman, Circuit Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit Court, Florida
• Hon. Elizabeth M. Schwabedissen, General Magistrate, 11th Judicial Circuit Court, Florida
• Hon. Craig B. Shaffer, U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of Colorado
• Hon. Thomas J. Shields, U.S. Magistrate Judge, Southern District of Iowa
• Hon. Stephen J. Smith, Administrative Law Judge, State of California

All three versions of the Cooperation Proclamation: Resources for the Judiciary are available here. You’ll have to provide your information to download, but that will get you added to the Sedona Conference email announcement list, which is always a good thing.  You can submit comments or proposed changes by emailing to the co-editors at kjw@sedonaconference.org or r_hedges@live.com.

So, what do you think? Is this an improved guide over the one from two years ago? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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