Summary
Will EED allow unfettered access to records?
Analysis
While regulations & codes have clearly allowed for the advances technology, US courts seem wiling to strictly monitor access to appropriately restricted data. It appears this Pennsylvania court has adhered to the most basic principles; you do not get what you always ask for. There needs to be a balancing test that weighs the defendant's right tom privacy against the plaintiff's desire to determine the truth. Court's remain reluctant to acquiesce to requests for what at times seems to be a fishing expedition. One would naturally think that the sheer cost of accumulating & analyzing unnecessary data would make e-discovery requests be narrowly tailored, but many seem to still want to ask for the moon in the hopes of finding a needle in a haystack. Protective orders in EED cases will become more common than standard motion practice. EED requests, regulations & codes addressing EED & the technology to efficiently analyze this information have come light years in just the last 5 years, but we have seen just the tip of the ice berg. EED firms have spouted up over night in this ever growing niche, clearly long off from market saturation. Advances in technology have still even just scratched the surface in this fast growing industry. Even this Pennsylvania court did not have specific EED rules yet, but that did no stop the creative lawyers from going after the data. Thinking of a new IT career, EED & service offerings are emerging faster than Capital can back them! Data on the trends in this area are clear, get on board or be left behind!
Martin Alpert consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
