Steven Friel & Caroline Bell discuss the changing nature of disclosure in civil procedure
We live in a technological age where there are many different forms of electronic communication and voluminous quantities of data are produced, exchanged and stored by electronic means. This can be a benefit and a burden to parties complying with their disclosure obligations in civil litigation.
Documents can make or break a case in more ways than one. They can make a case by the evidential weight they bring to bear; many a litigator lies awake at night dreaming of the smoking gun. Equally, documents can break a case with the financial strain disclosure brings to the costs of litigation. These points are particularly apt when it comes to electronic documents. There are many new and innovative e-disclosure tools on the market that greatly assist in complex cases, for example large scale commercial fraud. However, these tools, which are gradually becoming more and more necessary to the way in which we handle complex cases, come at a price, and many are asking whether the costs are worth it.
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