Courts Champion Proportionality as a Benchmark for Curbing E-Discovery Costs

In 2009, IAALS and the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice published its Final Report, a culmination of eighteen months of research, discussion, and deliberation regarding the problems plaguing the American justice system. The Final Report includes 29 Proposed Principles, including the principle that “[p]roportionality should be the most important principle applied to all discovery.” Today, numerous pilot projects are in various stages of consideration and implementation around the country, with proportionality in discovery a key theme among projects. In his recent article “Proportionality: The key to reducing corporation e-discovery costs,” Philip Favro recognizes this common theme and notes that “several circuit and district courts have recently championed proportionality as a benchmark for decreasing e-discovery costs.” The article discusses four recent cases that “exemplify how proportionality standards can help companies conduct e-discovery in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”