E-Discovery: Three Major Challenges For Employers

The December 1, 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have focused intense attention on the burdens and risks of electronic discovery. Employment litigation magnifies those burdens and risks for reasons typically absent from other forms of litigation. Understanding the unique aspects of electronic discovery in employment litigation is critical to protecting an organization against a plaintiff's use of electronic discovery to obtain tactical advantages that could lead to an undeserved settlement or an unwarranted and disproportionate jury verdict.

The amendments to the federal rules are intended to accommodate the digitization of global business and, relatedly, of business-related litigation. The amended rules effectively mandate that litigants focus at the pre-trial stages of a lawsuit on the distinct issues raised by the storage of discoverable information in electronic form. The amendments effect the