Rule Changes for Electronic Discovery?

Consider for a moment the daily activities at a typical corporation: E-mails are sent and received, files are generated, and information of all forms is stored on CD ROMs, hard drives, back-up tapes and the like ' all with the click of a mouse. Today's world is paperless, and electronic document preparation and storage is fast, easy, and virtually unlimited. Accordingly, companies need to be aware that all electronically stored information is likely to be discovered in future litigation. As electronic records can be virtually permanent, the legal world has set its sights on discovering every written word and every record created. Because employees view e-mail less formally than typed letters, personal opinion ' not always accurate and often provocative ' invariably finds its way into e-mail communications. This reality is particularly true of communications between co-workers. Electronically stored information may have significant consequences for a company involved in litigation, and companies should therefore have reasonable policies for the creation, handling, storage and destruction of their electronic documents and communications.