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Legal Process Outsourcing: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the role it plays with ESI and e-Discovery. We all see it. The world around us is changing. This includes the complex and ever-changing legal landscape. Modern technology facilitates mass processes influencing human life in every aspect at large. Legal processes that were once handled exclusively in-house can now be safely outsourced to trusted global services partners. Hard copies are replaced by soft copies like e-mail, electronically stored information, and more. As an organic result of this, the concept of document and documentary evidences is changed, affecting Law & Judiciary as well.
So what exactly can be outsourced today? The laws governing e-discovery have been updated. Quite a few amendments have been made to the FRCP which directly affect a company’s duty to preserve and produce ESI for ongoing or in anticipation of litigation. The rules have already been adopted in Texas, California, and many other U.S. states as well. Rules of note:
Companies involved in or in anticipation of litigation have an obligation to take all reasonable steps to preserve potentially relevant ESI. However, the e-discovery process can often result in a delicate risk of unintentional disclosure of privileged or confidential information. Rules pertaining to this risk include:
As mentioned earlier, companies in litigation have an obligation to take all reasonable steps to preserve potentially relevant ESI. FRCP Rule 33(d) includes ESI as part of the business records related to answer to interrogatories, for example:
With so many rules and regulations in place, does it make sense to outsource e-discovery work? Absolutely! Today, innumerable practices and firms all around the world outsource and successfully utilize the cost-effective services offered by legal process outsourcing companies. This frees up their own valuable resources and systems to allow them to concentrate on high-end legal work.