In 2016, e-discovery and information governance saw significant vendor consolidation, new review tools such as native file redaction, more cloud-based review and information governance, the end of the “three-day rule” for CM/ECF filings and a growing conversation about the evidentiary use of the “Internet of Things” (IoT). However, the most significant events of 2016 involved the implementation and enactment of new rules and laws. Courts applied the 2015 e-discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, issuing decisions addressing many of the prior, oft-cited flaws in the e-discovery process, such as unpredictable and unfair sanctions rulings and runaway discovery. There also was the formation and approval of the Privacy Shield, replacing the Safe Harbor scheme. Finally, we saw the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, providing a federal cause of action to private companies for trade secret theft.
Each of these three seminal topics were discussed in Mayer Brown’s Electronic Discovery & Information Governance practice’s Tips of the Month series and are recapped.