eDiscovery Proportionality Model: A New Framework Conference

The eDiscovery Proportionality Model: A New Framework is a groundbreaking tool, which provides guidance to a producing party to assess whether discovery is proportional to the needs of the case after taking into account all pertinent Rule 26(b)(1) factors.  Please join the James F. Humphreys Complex Litigation Center as we explain, review, and finalize the draft for formal issuance at the Ediscovery Proportionality Model: A New Framework Conference at the George Washington Law School on April 21-22, 2022.

To make the conference more accessible to more attendees, the conference will start at 2:30 pm on Thursday, April 21, and end on Friday, April 22, at 3:00 pm.  There will be separate 30-minute breakout sessions for plaintiff and defense lawyers at 2:30 pm on Friday. The adjustment has allowed the Center to reduce the registration fee to $750, with discounts provided to multiple lawyers registering from the same firm.

Discovery Roadmap

The underlying analysis, calculations, assumptions, and projections are painstakingly documented in the 54-page New Framework along with excel worksheet spreadsheets and appendices. But its end product synthesizes this work in a single-page Discovery Roadmap, which can be applied routinely in individual cases.

The Discovery Roadmap distills the key data points needed to make reasonable proportionality assessments in a coherent and structured manner. Although designed to provide guidance to the producing party, the discovery roadmap can be used to facilitate negotiations with the other side as well as inform judicial resolution of a discovery dispute. 

The New Framework

Learn why the New Framework is a game changer. For the first time, lawyers and judges can compare and evaluate average costs of discovery from mobile devices, social media, laptops, and shared files as well as email, which until now were unavailable. 

But the New Framework goes much further and accounts for and quantifies the “amount in controversy” and the “importance of the issues at stake,” two critical Rule 26(b)(1) proportionality factors.  Consistent with case law and Rule 26(b)(1), the estimated discovery costs are compared with a projected level of 5%-10% of the “amount of controversy” as adjusted in appropriate circumstances.  

The requirements to consider proportionality in discovery have been in Rule 26 for more than three decades. Following years of rulemaking in 1983, 2006, and 2015, the Civil and Standing Rules Committees, the Judicial Conference, and the Supreme Court revisited and strongly reaffirmed the need and utility of proportionality assessments in discovery, promulgating three separate amendments.  Chief Justice Roberts devoted nearly his entire end-of-the-year message in 2015 urging the bench and bar to comply with and promote the Rule 26(b)(1) proportionality requirements. 

But the proportionality assessments have not become operational because there has been no effective methodology to implement it.   The lack of a uniform standard methodology can no longer excuse the bench and bar from complying with the rule. The New Framework’s discovery roadmap offers a simple, easy-to-use model, backed by extensive research and study, with all assumptions and calculations disclosed in a fully transparent fashion.  Under the model, the user can substitute their own estimates to account for individual circumstances.  The New Framework is designed to be a “living document,” which is a work-in-progress that will be constantly revised to account for new experiential and empirical evidence.

Chatham House Rule

The conference will be held under the Chatham House Rule:
"[P]articipants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), or that of any other participant, may be revealed." 

The Center will consider publishing additional versions of the New Framework, which will address specific types of litigation, e.g., patent, antitrust, insurance, and tort, which will be based on more precise estimates applicable to the respective specific litigation. 

Registration

The registration fee for the conference is $750 which includes conference materials, one continental breakfast, coffee breaks, lunch, a group reception on Thursday evening, and grab-and-go snacks at adjournment. Two or more lawyers registering from the same law firm receive major discounts ($750 - single: $499 – second registrant; and $399 – for the third and each additional registrant).

CLE
CLE will be applied for in New Jersey. Attorneys will receive a Certificate of Attendance and a completed Uniform Application for Accreditation form after the conference in order to submit CLE hours for your state.

Conference Patrons and Sponsors

Conference Agenda

Conference Materials

Panelist Biographies  

Coming Soon.