My First Meet And Confer

http://ow.ly/6KQda

A post by "Todd" on the discoverybrain.com website.

This article discusses the "Meet and Confer" requirement associated with Federal (and some state) litigation.  This article provides an illustration of the first meeting that the author attended regarding this type of discovery conference.

The article provides a definition of the "Meet and Confer" as follows, "a requirement of courts that before certain types of motions and/or petitions will be heard by the judge, the lawyers (and sometimes their clients) must “meet and confer” to try to resolve the matter or at least determine the points of conflict."

The article states, "One thing I found interesting was that the cost to perform the electronically stored information (ESI)-related work was at the forefront of the conversation. Cost tends to dominate a lot of conversations these days and my impression was that took away from the real items at hand.

Performing a sound collection, planning how to address the amount of data collected, coming up with really good search terms that will not create a lot of irrelevant data, how to then agree to refine such search terms and methodologies. These items were eventually discussed as a small fraction of the overall conversation, and only after a long drawn out battle over cost and who is going to pay."

The article goes on further to state, "The more positive items I noted were that both sides were well versed in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures (FRCP) rules, specifically Rule 26."

The author provides the following advice in conclusion, "To sum up the experience, I have a few quick items that may help someone (even for the first time or as a consultant) heading to a meet and confer:

1. Be Prepared.
2. Have a budget in mind.
3. Consider size, scope, and timeframe of the collection.
4. Discuss and try to agree on best practices and an overall plan of action.
5. Discuss production specifications, timelines, and expectations.

Most importantly, try to be reasonable."