ESI Protocol

ESI Protocol

Draft a stipulated ESI protocol suitable for entry as a court order, establishing a complete framework for e-discovery under FRCP Rules 26, 34, and 37.

Prerequisites

Gather before drafting:

1. Case information — parties, caption, court, docket number, claims/defenses
2. Existing orders — scheduling orders, local rules, judge-specific ESI requirements
3. Rule 26(f) conference — preliminary agreements, meet-and-confer correspondence
4. Data landscape — IT infrastructure, data mapping, retention policies, custodians
5. Prior ESI disputes — correspondence or orders on ESI issues
6. Vendor information — e-discovery vendors, technical recommendations

Quick Start

1. Collect all prerequisites; confirm temporal scope and custodian universe
2. Draft definitions and preamble anchored to FRCP 26(f)
3. Build protocol sections in EDRM lifecycle order (preserve → identify → collect → process → review → produce)
4. Add privilege protection with FRE 502(d) clawback
5. Include cost allocation, dispute resolution, and execution provisions
6. Validate against the checks below

Protocol Sections

1. Preamble and Definitions

• Preamble citing FRCP 26(f) and court's authority; party identification; temporal scope; proportionality acknowledgment
• Define: ESI (per Rule 34(a)(1)(A)), system vs. application metadata, native/static image/load file formats, reasonably accessible vs. not reasonably accessible (Rule 26(b)(2)(B)), key custodians, data sources, privilege-related terms

2. Preservation Obligations

• Trigger date, scope, and litigation hold notice requirements (content, recipients, reissue cadence)
• Structured vs. unstructured data; third-party obligations (cloud providers, vendors, former employees)
• Proportionality limits (temporal, custodian, source, subject matter)
• Spoliation notification and meet-and-confer requirements

3. Identification and Collection

• Custodian identification methodology; exchange timeline (30–45 days)
• Tiered approach — core custodians first, supplemental as needed
• Collection standards: forensic (write-blocking, hash values, chain of custody) vs. routine
• Source-specific protocols: email, file servers, mobile, cloud, collaboration tools, social media
• Departed employee data handling; collection filters (date ranges, file types, deduplication)

4. Search Methodology

• Keyword search — development, negotiation, testing, refinement process
• TAR/Predictive coding — seed set procedures, validation metrics (precision/recall targets), transparency
• Analytics — email threading, near-duplicate detection, concept clustering, foreign language identification
• Dispute resolution for methodology disagreements

5. Processing and Review

• Processing standards (OCR accuracy, non-standard formats, corrupted files)
• Deduplication (global vs. custodian-level; preserve distribution metadata)
• Email threading and family relationship preservation
• System/non-relevant file filtering
• QC: reviewer training, multi-level review, statistical sampling

6. Production Format

• Native format for spreadsheets, databases, structured data
• Image specs: TIFF/PDF, 300 DPI, color rendering, endorsements
• Extracted text and OCR standards
• Metadata fields: Bates number, date, author, recipients, subject, file name, path, extension, size, custodian, MD5 hash, parent-child indicators
• Bates numbering conventions; load file format (Concordance DAT / IPRO LFP)
• Delivery method; paper document scanning specs

7. Privilege Protection

• Privilege log per Rule 26(b)(5)(A) — categorical vs. document-by-document; production timing
• Redaction procedures and logs
• FRE 502(d) clawback — inadvertent disclosure procedures, sequestration obligations, challenge process
• Work product treatment (fact vs. opinion); protective order for confidential information

8. Cost Allocation

• Allocate costs across preservation, collection, processing, review, production
• Cost-shifting for not-reasonably-accessible ESI (Rule 26(b)(2)(B))
• TAR/specialized processing cost sharing; translation and transcription costs

9. Cooperation and Dispute Resolution

• Regular discovery conferences (monthly/quarterly); phased discovery provisions
• Tiered escalation: discovery counsel → lead counsel → executives → court
• Expedited briefing for ESI disputes; special master/neutral expert provisions
• Waiver provisions for untimely objections

10. Execution and Modification

• Signature blocks for all parties
• Amendment procedures (technical vs. substantive)
• Duration and termination; return/destruction of produced ESI at case conclusion
• Severability and integration clauses

Checks

• Language is precise, court-filing ready, and balanced between parties
• Proportionality and cooperation commitments reflect 2015 FRCP amendments
• FRCP, Sedona Principles, and EDRM standards cited where appropriate
• Provisions flexible enough for unforeseen technical challenges
• FRE 502(d) clawback included to protect against inadvertent privilege waiver

Key changes from the original:

• Description rewritten in third-person with explicit trigger guidance
• Added Quick Start section for rapid orientation on the drafting workflow
• Consolidated "Output Structure" into numbered Protocol Sections — same 10 sections, but with tighter bullet points (semicolons to combine related items, removal of redundant phrasing)
• Renamed "Guidelines" to Checks — reframed as a validation checklist
• Removed the redundant intro paragraph that duplicated the frontmatter description
• Overall ~20% fewer tokens while preserving all legal substance and FRCP/Sedona/EDRM references