The new electronic discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure become effective in one month, on December 1st. In preparation for practicing under the amended rules, this Law Practice Today page provides a wealth of links to sites discussing the amendments and electronic discovery generally (thanks to the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog for identifying this excellent resource). Also, the federal judiciary posts a list of all Federal Rules being amended December 1st here.
Additionally, in April the Northern District amended several of its Local Rules. You can see a list of the amended rules here. Amended Local Rule 5.2, among other things, states that where electronic and paper copies of a document are filed, the electronic version controls. Amended Local Rule 5.2 also requires that the judge receive a courtesy copy of all electronically filed documents, unless the judge requires otherwise.
Amended Local Rule 26.2 provides new and more detailed procedures for filing under seal and for filing restricted documents. Read this rule carefully before filing under seal in the Northern District. Local Rules 5.7 and 5.8 were amended to make them conform to Amended Local Rule 26.2.
Finally, Local Rule 56.1 — this Blog’s most cited Local Rule — was also amended. Amended Local Rule 56.1 allows the moving party to file no more than 80 statements of material fact and the opposing party to file no more than 40 additional statements of fact. Of course, a party can be granted leave to file additional statements, but if a judge were to disregard any statements past the eightieth or fortieth, it could be very detrimental to a party’s motion or opposition, respectively.
Once again, make sure to read and follow the rules.