Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Greg Buckles. Published: 2010-10-20 05:23:54Format, images and links may no longer function correctly. The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) projects meet twice a year in St. Paul for a couple days of concentrated work. This year’s gathering feels a bit smaller than year’s past, but all the projects seem to be making good progress. There were a good number of new, first time participants from law firms and corporations, reflecting the growing number of dedicated eDiscovery managers and specialized counsel. After a short status report from the project leaders, everyone adjourned to their chosen projects to work.
The Evergreen project should be able to post new detailed level EDRM phase diagrams that have been updated and standardized. Overall, Evergreen is consolidating and linking to new materials generated by all the separate projects and trying to make sure that EDRM.net stays user friendly and up to date. The Search project continues to add subgroups and participants due to the intense interest in new search technologies and evolving optimization methods. They are working on expanding the already weighty Search Guide with more detailed discovery search scenarios and best practices.
The Model Code of Conduct project continues to refine their principles, corollaries and guidelines for service providers and clients on eDiscovery engagements. The latest versions should be online soon. I participated in a review of the Conflict of Interest and Engagement topics. The principals stress disclosure and clear communication of scope. The Information Management Reference Model project published a new reference model diagram at the last meeting covering the ESI lifecycle in the context of the governance stakeholders and goals.
Information Management Reference Model Diagram
The Metrics project drafted a privilege metrics survey and a series of Quickpolls that will live on the EDRM site covering common eDiscovery metrics such as GB/custodian, items/GB and more. EDRM is working with the ABA subcommittee that is revising the UTMBS billing codes to add more eDiscovery specific codes. Firms and corporations are demanding more detail in their invoices so that they can analyze and predict matter costs. Overall, it was a good first day and the EDRM continues to grow and evolve.