“Oh, Snap! The State of E-Discovery as Social Media Goes Mobile via Snapchat, WhatsApp and Other Messaging Apps

Abstract

As the researchers will demonstrate through current cases, each new technology that generates electronically-stored information is an opportunity to trace its path through the phases of the e-discovery process, to note the legal, technological, logistical and ethical issues at each phase and to consider any special challenges that lawyers and their support teams might face. This research is particularly timely, given that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are being significantly revised again, based on a May 2010 conference on civil litigation at Duke University and more than 2,300 comments from interested practitioners and academics since then. Among the revised rules that will become effective on December 1, 2015, if approved by the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress, are several that directly impact electronically-stored information, including Rules 16, 26, 34 and 37, with the goal of making the e-discovery process more efficient and less burdensome and costly.