Yes, it’s the holiday season, but do we need one for eDiscovery? With December 4th marking the 5th annual eDiscovery Day, the answer is yes! It was created to put a spotlight on our industry and to celebrate the professionals who make the legal process happen (often behind the scenes). For an industry that’s expected to reach almost $19 billion per year by 2023, up from more than $10 billion in 2018, there’s no denying that we’re deserving of a holiday!
However, as holidays are wont to do, they make us reflect on our purpose (it’s definitely not just about money). Instead, it’s important to remember that eDiscovery is about ensuring the strength of our justice system. It’s about making sure the legal process functions with accuracy and defensibility. One only has to return to Chief Justice John Roberts’ statements in 2015 (the year of the first eDiscovery day):
“The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure will achieve the goal of Rule 1 only if the entire legal community, including the bench, bar, and legal academy, step up to the challenge of making real change. Judges and lawyers [have an obligation] to work cooperatively in controlling the expense and time demands of litigation. Lawyers—though representing adverse parties—have an affirmative duty to work together, and with the court, to achieve prompt and efficient resolutions of disputes.”
And that’s why the mission of eDiscovery Day being a vendor agnostic celebration of this work we’re all trying to do (and do well) is so vital. It’s about the entire legal community stepping up to the challenge of working cooperatively to continually achieve the mandate of Rule 1: to reach a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution to legal disputes.
So that’s what eDiscovery Day is about. It’s about all of us – practitioners, attorneys, judges, technologists, vendors (and even writers) – coming together and recognizing how important the work each of us does to ensure the goal of Rule 1 (and the entire justice system) is met.
