Model Precedents

The Digital Evidence and eDiscovery Working Group has released revised versions of all of its e-discovery and e-trial model documents and guidance materials.  Links to all of these documents are provided below.

Please note that some precedents have not been updated and should be used with caution as technology and best practices continue to evolve. The Precedents Sub-committee is in the process of updating our precedents collection.

The documents fall into the following broad categories:

ANNOTATIONS WITHIN THE MODEL PRECEDENTS AND OTHER WORKING GROUP GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS

Annotations are included throughout the The Working Group’s model documents and the The Working Group’s other e-discovery guidance documents.  Many of the annotations refer to The Sedona Canada Principles Addressing Electronic Discovery (the “Sedona Canada Principles”).  The Sedona Canada Principles are a set of national guidelines for e-discovery in Canada, which reflect both existing legal principles and a set of identified best practices.  The Sedona Canada Principles are intended to be compatible with the discovery rules in all Canadian jurisdictions.  Effective January 1, 2010, civil litigants in Ontario are required, pursuant to Rule 29.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, to consult and have regard to the Sedona Canada Principles in preparing a discovery plan for an action.  A copy of the Sedona Canada Principles may be downloaded from www.thesedonaconference.org, where they are found under the list of publications for Working Group 7.

The Working Group’s documents have been prepared and made available to the public by the Working Group for informational purposes.  They are not provided as legal or technical advice and should not be relied upon as such.

NOTE REGARDING USE OF DEED PRECEDENTS

These model documents have been prepared and made available to the public by the DEED Working Group for informational purposes.   They are not provided as legal or technical advice and should not be relied upon as such. 

Publications of the DEED Working Group are copyrighted by the Digital Evidence and E-Discovery Working Group and all rights are reserved. Individuals may download these publications for their own use at no charge. Law firms and other organizations may download these publications and make them available internally for individual use within the firm or organization. DEED publications may be republished, copied or reprinted at no charge for non-profit purposes. Organizations and individuals may provide a link to the publications on the internet without charge provided that proper attribution to the Digital Evidence and E-Discovery Working Group is included.

The DEED Working Group welcomes comments on all of its model documents and other publications.  The Precedents Sub-committee will review all comments received and consider appropriate revisions.

For further information, or to request permission to republish, copy or reprint for commercial profit, or to provide feedback on model documents contact the Working Group through our administrative email box: ediscovery.secretary@gmail.com.