Proposed federal rules advance.

• Position: E-DISCOVERY - Rules for electronic records maintenance - Brief article

The Supreme Court of the United States has given the proposed changes to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) its blessings. Now the rules await Congressional approval, which, if everything goes according to plan, will have the rules going into effect December 1, 2015.

Amendments to Rule 37(e) specifically address electronic discovery. In brief, the revisions provide a unified standard for the courts to use in situations where electronically stored information (ESI) is not properly preserved.

If ESI that should have been preserved for a legal hold is lost because the party didn't take the appropriate steps, and it can't be easily reproduced, it's up to the court to...