California plans to update CRC 212 to mirror recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The changes were initially scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2007, were shelved indefinitely in the Summer of 2006. Much like the new FRCP Rules 16(f) and 26(b), the rules address the management of e-discovery during the early stages of litigation. The rule changes will affect meet and confer requirements as well as the topics addressed during case management conferences. current Rule 212(e) requires parties to meet and confer prior to case management conferences. The amended Rule 212(e) requires parties to consider electronically stored information when conferring on issues regarding preservation, discovery, and protection of evidence. Rule 212(f) will then expand the list of topics addressed at the case management conference to include discovery of electronically stored information. It is unclear whether these amendments will take effect in the near future. “This is likely to be a longer-term project in the next several years,” said Patrick O’Donnell, counsel to the Judicial Council’s Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee. “I think the situation in California [is], wait and see. Let’s take a look and then hopefully benefit from the experience the federal courts and others are having.”*

For a more detailed discussion of the proposed changes, please visit:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/invitationstocomment/documents/spr06-13.pdf

* Source: Legal Technology – California E-Discovery Rule Changes on Hold (http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1167945422881&rss=ltn).