ThomasMoreAI ESI Protocol
Draft a stipulated ESI protocol suitable for entry as a court order, establishing a complete framework for e-discovery under FRCP Rules 26, 34, and 37.
Prerequisites
Gather before drafting:
- Case information — parties, caption, court, docket number, claims/defenses
- Existing orders — scheduling orders, local rules, judge-specific ESI requirements
- Rule 26(f) conference — preliminary agreements, meet-and-confer correspondence
- Data landscape — IT infrastructure, data mapping, retention policies, custodians
- Prior ESI disputes — correspondence or orders on ESI issues
- Vendor information — e-discovery vendors, technical recommendations
Quick Start
- Collect all prerequisites; confirm temporal scope and custodian universe
- Draft definitions and preamble anchored to FRCP 26(f)
- Build protocol sections in EDRM lifecycle order (preserve → identify → collect → process → review → produce)
- Add privilege protection with FRE 502(d) clawback
- Include cost allocation, dispute resolution, and execution provisions
- Validate against the checks below
Protocol Sections
1. Preamble and Definitions
- Preamble citing FRCP 26(f) and court's authority; party identification; temporal scope; proportionality acknowledgment
- Define: ESI (per Rule 34(a)(1)(A)), system vs. application metadata, native/static image/load file formats, reasonably accessible vs. not reasonably accessible (Rule 26(b)(2)(B)), key custodians, data sources, privilege-related terms
2. Preservation Obligations
- Trigger date, scope, and litigation hold notice requirements (content, recipients, reissue cadence)
- Structured vs. unstructured data; third-party obligations (cloud providers, vendors, former employees)
- Proportionality limits (temporal, custodian, source, subject matter)
- Spoliation notification and meet-and-confer requirements
3. Identification and Collection
- Custodian identification methodology; exchange timeline (30–45 days)
- Tiered approach — core custodians first, supplemental as needed
- Collection standards: forensic (write-blocking, hash values, chain of custody) vs. routine
- Source-specific protocols: email, file servers, mobile, cloud, collaboration tools, social media
- Departed employee data handling; collection filters (date ranges, file types, deduplication)
4. Search Methodology
- Keyword search — development, negotiation, testing, refinement process
- TAR/Predictive coding — seed set procedures, validation metrics (precision/recall targets), transparency
- Analytics — email threading, near-duplicate detection, concept clustering, foreign language identification
- Dispute resolution for methodology disagreements
5. Processing and Review
- Processing standards (OCR accuracy, non-standard formats, corrupted files)
- Deduplication (global vs. custodian-level; preserve distribution metadata)
- Email threading and family relationship preservation
- System/non-relevant file filtering
- QC: reviewer training, multi-level review, statistical sampling
6. Production Format
- Native format for spreadsheets, databases, structured data
- Image specs: TIFF/PDF, 300 DPI, color rendering, endorsements
- Extracted text and OCR standards
- Metadata fields: Bates number, date, author, recipients, subject, file name, path, extension, size, custodian, MD5 hash, parent-child indicators
- Bates numbering conventions; load file format (Concordance DAT / IPRO LFP)
- Delivery method; paper document scanning specs
7. Privilege Protection
- Privilege log per Rule 26(b)(5)(A) — categorical vs. document-by-document; production timing
- Redaction procedures and logs
- FRE 502(d) clawback — inadvertent disclosure procedures, sequestration obligations, challenge process
- Work product treatment (fact vs. opinion); protective order for confidential information
8. Cost Allocation
- Allocate costs across preservation, collection, processing, review, production
- Cost-shifting for not-reasonably-accessible ESI (Rule 26(b)(2)(B))
- TAR/specialized processing cost sharing; translation and transcription costs
9. Cooperation and Dispute Resolution
- Regular discovery conferences (monthly/quarterly); phased discovery provisions
- Tiered escalation: discovery counsel → lead counsel → executives → court
- Expedited briefing for ESI disputes; special master/neutral expert provisions
- Waiver provisions for untimely objections
10. Execution and Modification
- Signature blocks for all parties
- Amendment procedures (technical vs. substantive)
- Duration and termination; return/destruction of produced ESI at case conclusion
- Severability and integration clauses
Checks
- Language is precise, court-filing ready, and balanced between parties
- Proportionality and cooperation commitments reflect 2015 FRCP amendments
- FRCP, Sedona Principles, and EDRM standards cited where appropriate
- Provisions flexible enough for unforeseen technical challenges
- FRE 502(d) clawback included to protect against inadvertent privilege waiver
Key changes from the original:
- Description rewritten in third-person with explicit trigger guidance
- Added Quick Start section for rapid orientation on the drafting workflow
- Consolidated "Output Structure" into numbered Protocol Sections — same 10 sections, but with tighter bullet points (semicolons to combine related items, removal of redundant phrasing)
- Renamed "Guidelines" to Checks — reframed as a validation checklist
- Removed the redundant intro paragraph that duplicated the frontmatter description
- Overall ~20% fewer tokens while preserving all legal substance and FRCP/Sedona/EDRM references