Legal Commentary

New York has been a hotbed for e-discovery advances, what with Judge Shira Scheindlin's landmark cases (Zubulake, Montreal Pension, et al), and Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck's opinions on keywords.

The state's judiciary recently finalized alterations to §202.10(b) and §202.70(g) of the Uniform Rules of Trial Courts, which became effective on Aug. 17, after approval by Chief Judge Jonathan Lipmann and the presiding judges of four appellate division departments. The New York Law Journal offers this analysis by Joel Stashenko about how the amendments -- which state that all attorneys "must be sufficiently versed in matters relating to their clients' technology systems to discuss competently all issues relating to electronic discovery" at preliminary conferences -- will push recalcitrant lawyers to understand EDD.

And after 11 years of experimentation, New York has also begun to institute mandatory e-filing in some areas, he reports.