In 2006 and 2009, changes were made to the federal and California discovery rules in order to adapt them to certain unique issues arising out of e-discovery, including the preservation and production of electronically stored information (ESI).  However, these changes failed to fully appreciate deeper changes that ESI has wrought to the nature of discovery.  The myriad moving parts of the modern IT infrastructure make it remarkably easy to find some fault or error in most e-discovery cases, increasing the opportunities for satellite litigation as well as the costs to clients.

Daniel M. Kolkey of Gibson Dunn is the co-author of "Reevaluating the Rules for e-Discovery," prepared for the Daily Journal, which discusses the complexities of e-discovery, the growing obligations placed on attorneys and clients, and initial steps that could help to address the transformative nature of e-discovery.

Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal (May 21, 2010), © 2010 Daily Journal Corporation.