E-discovery vendors and consultants are salivating at the thought of the Federal Court's anticipated practice note on e-discovery, due out in December.

While there isn't a great deal of detail available at present, it looks like the note will impose obligations on parties to attend a pre-discovery conference and agree on the scope and method to be used in discovery.  It is likely that it will also actively encourage parties to produce electronic records in their original form, rather than as printed documents.

While some may argue that this will significantly increase the e-discovery market in Australia, the reality is that these types of conference happen in ad-hoc fashion in any event.   We'll have to wait for the final practice note to get a better idea of the impact, if any.

More here: http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22591460-15306,00.html

And a bit more detail in this old-ish Lawyers Weekly article:
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/articles/A-new-discovery_z69406.htm

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