Are you new to e-discovery? Wondering what all the fuss is about? Are you wondering why electronic discovery has become such a big deal in the legal profession? In the video below, Ralph Losey does a great job of articulating what electronic discovery is and why it has become so important.

In short, as the world increasingly uses computers for communications and tracking information, evidence in lawsuits is increasingly found on computers and other electronic media. Now consider how each document might have multiple versions, each email includes a copy of the message it replies to, how quickly documents and emails can be created, and how quickly the amount of information can be duplicated as its sent back-and-forth or copied to new locations.

Parties in litigation can’t afford to pay their attorneys to analyze the equivalent of 100,000 pages on a computer, and attorneys are required to scan documents for privileged or relevant information during the litigation discovery process. So when a party in a lawsuit tells the attorney it can’t afford to pay $80,000 in legal fees just to analyze all the documents and emails stored on a computer system, what should the lawyer do? This is the question that courts and attorneys are wrestling with, as they have been adopting new rules and procedures to handle these new challenges.

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