Proportionality: The New Framework is Well-Intentioned, but…

MBCB founding partners Ray Biederman and Sean Burke co-authored a piece outlining critiques of The eDiscovery Proportionality Model: A New Framework released by the James F. Humphreys Complex Litigation Center at the George Washington Law School.

“While well-intentioned, implementing the New Framework could result in court-sanctioned fishing expeditions that ignore the central inquiries of Rule 26(b)(1), relevance and proportionality. Rather than focus first on the potential relevance of data, the cost of retrieving that data, and the proportionality of those costs, the New Framework focuses on “’how much data can be produced based on the amount in controversy?’”

The Corporate Counsel Business journal published an op-ed version that you can read here; access their full commentary here.