Western District of Oklahoma Adopts Best Practices for Electronic Discovery in Criminal Cases

If you needed more proof that electronic discovery is not just for civil cases, the Western District of Oklahoma has adopted “Best Practices for Electronic Discovery of Documentary Materials in Criminal Cases.”  Adopted on August 20th, these Best Practices recognize the lack of guidance in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 or in U.S.C. § 3500 regarding the production of discovery materials in electronic from and are intended to “summarize proposed electronic discovery practices.”

Included in the Best Practices are requirements that counsel for the parties shall, by a time prescribed, address issues including the volume of discovery, the litigation capabilities of counsel, and timeframes for production, among other things.  Additional requirements include the production of electronically stored information in .PDF format, the production of an index identifying the “source and/or nature of the materials” produced, and mandatory good-faith discussions of possible cost-sharing measures when handling voluminous discovery.

A full copy of the Best Practices are available here.