No major e-discovery issues in 2013.

• Position: E-DISCOVERY

Looking back, it was all quiet on the e-discovery front last year. "No earth-shattering opinions, no imprisoned spoliators, and barely a whimper from reported decisions related to parties' chosen form of production," observed Cecil Lynn, director of e-discovery and technology at eBay, and Lauren Schwartzreich, e-discovery counsel at Littler Mendelson, in a recent Law Technology News article.

"Perhaps the bench and bar are getting more sophisticated and technology savvy," they hypothesized. "Or perhaps the courts implicitly recognized the current state of flux, what with the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that specifically address [electronic data discovery]. Or possibly, the industry is evolving from what was once considered cutting-edge and novel to what is emerging as best practices."

As in previous years, judges reinforced their expectation of cooperation with the electronic data discovery (EDD) competency. The Eastern District of Michigan went so far as to develop a "Meet and Confer Checklist and Model Order Related to the Discovery of Electronically Stored Information."

The courts also continued to focus on the parties' efforts to stream line discovery and consider the cost and burdens associated with their discovery requests, as well as on cost...