Marlon Hylton was quoted in the article “Communication Important for Good e-Discovery,” published by the Law Times.
Writes Dale Smith: “When it comes to e-Discovery, Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure make having a discovery plan mandatory. Lawyers say that what makes a good discovery plan is good communication and a sense of proportionality to the volume of documents being produced.”
The technological expertise of counsel when it comes to doing e-Discovery can have an effect on the planning process, says Marlon, partner and head of discovery management with Cassels. “A big part of it is the bar still catching up with the nuances of discovery plans.”
Marlon says that unless counsel understands the nature of the documents in question, which can include things such as embedded reports, it can create an onerous burden to those trying to collect it.
“For a discovery plan to be good, it requires a shift in thinking, says Marlon, [such as] a much earlier contemplation of what is it that we have that’s relevant to the issues in this case — what format is it in, where does it reside in our client’s IT infrastructure — because all of that will determine what we have to do to get it.”