Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Outlines 2007 & 2008 Projects.

Key Initiatives to Establish Standards and Guidelines in the Electronic Discovery Market

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), designed to develop and establish practical guidelines and standards for e-discovery, today announced its primary projects for 2007 & 2008: the EDRM Code of Conduct, Evergreen, Metrics 2 and XML 2 projects. All projects are aimed at improving consumers' and providers' ability to monitor and facilitate the e-discovery process.

New for 2007-2008, the EDRM Code of Conduct project will focus on developing ethical guidelines for providers of electronic discovery services, akin to the guidelines under which attorneys, court personnel and the like operate.

Building on the original EDRM project, the EDRM Evergreen project will have two primary goals; to ensure that the Electronic Discovery Reference Model remains current and relevant; and to enhance the content at each node of the model: Records Management through Presentation.

The EDRM Metrics 2 project will continue the development begun with the EDRM Metrics project. The goal of the EDRM Metrics project is to provide a standard approach and generally accepted language for measuring the full range of electronic discovery activities. For each stage of the electronic discovery process described in the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, the Metrics project will offer guidelines for how to measure associated costs, time and volumes. The Metrics 2 project will have four main goals: To develop tracking and reporting protocols; to promote the adoption and use of EDRM Metrics measuring tools to track electronic discovery activity; to promote the analysis of data collected; and to begin the EDRM Metrics Evergreen process.

The EDRM XML 2 project will further the work begun with the initial EDRM XML project. The EDRM XML project's objective is to provide a standard, generally accepted XML schema to facilitate the movement of electronically stored information (ESI) from one step of the electronic discovery process to the next, from one software program to the next, and from one organization to the next. The ESI includes both underlying discovery materials and information about those materials. The EDRM XML 2 project will have the following goals: to continue development of the EDRM XML schema for metadata; to continue development of the EDRM XML schema for project and audit data; to develop protocols for numbering electronic files maintained in their native type (e.g., Excel spreadsheets kept as xls files); to develop protocols for redacting files maintained in their native type; and to begin the EDRM XML Evergreen process.

"We hope these new projects will build on the foundation laid by the EDRM, EDRM Metrics and EDRM XML projects, providing consumers and providers alike with greater guidance for their electronic discovery initiatives," said George J. Socha, Jr. Esq. of Socha Consulting LLC. "Given the increased emphasis on electronic discovery, as demonstrated by the newly revised Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the need for these types of undertakings is greater than ever," he added.

Completion of v 1.0 of both the Metrics and XML projects is expected by late-May of this year. Following their completion, the group will further develop these projects throughout the remainder of 2007 and into 2008. Starting in May 2007, two new projects, Evergreen and Code of Conduct will begin.

"Since May 2005 over 90 organizations have participated in EDRM projects. The broad spectrum of electronic discovery software and service providers, law firms and corporations involved in developing the EDRM contribute a wide array of perspectives to the process and produces outstanding results," said Tom Gelbmann, Principal of Gelbmann & Associates.

In May 2006, the first project completed by the group was to establish EDRM framework. The framework, referenced at Law.com, one of the top web- based legal news and information websites, was developed to help consumers and providers of electronic discovery services and software establish standards for collecting, processing and working with electronic data for discovery.

The first EDRM project included efforts of approximately 80 people from 63 organizations in the legal industry. Independent consultants George Socha and Tom Gelbmann formed the group in May 2005 in response to concerns in the market regarding standards for dealing with electronic data. Since its inception the group has grown to include many thought leader participants from the corporate business environment, e-discovery vendors and law firms. Thirty-seven corporations, law firms and service and software providers currently are working on the EDRM Metrics project, and another and overlapping group of 37 organizations are contributing their efforts to the EDRM XML project.

For more information on the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 EDRM projects and the EDRM project teams visit http://edrm.net.

About EDRM:

Launched in May 2005, the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Project was created to address the lack of standards and guidelines in the electronic discovery market - a problem identified in the 2003 and 2004 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery surveys as a major concern for vendors and consumers alike. The completed reference model provides a common, flexible and extensible framework for the development, selection, evaluation and use of electronic discovery products and services. Expanding on the base laid down with the Reference Model, in May 2006 the EDRM projects were expanded to include the EDRM Metrics and the EDRM XML projects.