Hot Off the Press: The Sedona Conference® Commentary on Proportionality in Electronic Discovery

Today The Sedona Conference® made available its Commentary on Proportionality in Electronic Discovery.  The commentary (published as a "public comment version") provides valuable insight and guidance on one of the hottest topics in e-discovery today.  Among other things, the publication identifies six Principles of Proportionality, intended to “provide a framework for the application of the doctrine of proportionality to all aspects of electronic discovery.”  Those principles are:

1. The burdens and costs of preservation of potentially relevant information should be weighed against the potential value and uniqueness of the information when determining the appropriate scope of preservation.

2. Discovery should generally be obtained from the most convenient, least burdensome, and least expensive sources.

3. Undue burden, expense, or delay resulting from a party’s action or inaction should be weighed against that party.

4. Extrinsic information and sampling may assist in the analysis of whether requested discovery is sufficiently important to warrant the potential burden or expense of its production.

5. Nonmonetary factors should be considered when evaluating the burdens and benefits of discovery.

6. Technologies to reduce cost and burden should be considered in the proportionality analysis.

To download a full copy of the commentary, click here.