The United States Court for the Western District of Missouri is considering the adoption of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Principles. The Court is considering separate Principles for both criminal and civil cases, related checklists to facilitate ESI-related discussion by parties, and a Model Fed. R. Evid. 502(d) Order for civil cases. Although these are not local rules which require a comment period, the Court En Banc seeks the input of the members of the Bar. The comment period for the civil proposals closed on September 22, 2016. The Court is now seeking comment on the criminal proposals.
The initial idea of the ESI Principles was raised in a Federal Practice Committee meeting. The proposed ESI Principles and related checklists on which the Court seeks comment were drafted over the course of a year by a committee of lawyers appointed by the Court representing both large and small firms, diverse areas of practice, private, in-house and government employers. The committee’s proposals have been reviewed by the Federal Court Practice Committee. The comment period for the criminal proposals will close on October 26, 2016, and may be directed to Paige Wymore-Wynn at paige_wymore-wynn@mow.uscourts.gov.
Proposed Criminal ESI Principles & Checklist
ESI Committee Memo re: Proposed Criminal Principles & Checklist