The Sedona Conference Working Group 1 Annual Meeting 2023

Date: 
Thursday, October 26, 2023 - 8:30am to Friday, October 27, 2023 - 1:15pm

Time zone: Eastern Daylight Time

Location: The Alexander Hotel, Indianapolis, Indiana

Meeting Description:

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1) will be Thursday, October 26, and Friday, October 27, at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana. A welcome reception will precede the meeting on October 25, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

A primary focus of the meeting will be to present work product from several Working Group 1 drafting teams and brainstorming groups for feedback and dialogue among WG1 members. These sessions include:

  • Drafting Team Reports:
    • Discovery-Related Sanctions
    • Discovery of Modern Communications and Collaboration Platforms
  • Brainstorming Group Reports:
    • Electronic Information in Government Proceedings
    • The Sufficiency of Rule 26(a)(1) Initial Disclosures

The meeting also will include sessions on the following topics:

  • Case Law Review: Key eDiscovery and ESI Decisions from 2023
  • Voices from the Bench: The Judicial Perspective for 2023 and Beyond
  • The Path from Generative Artificial Intelligence to Next Gen Discovery
  • The Future of Legal Diversity Initiatives
  • Ethical Obligations in Responding to Discovery
  • The State of Working Group 1

Further details on the agenda can be found below. Confirmed dialogue leaders will be announced in the coming weeks, so please check back.

Hotel Reservation Information: 

While we obtained a very favorable group room rate at The Alexander of $229 per night for a limited block of rooms on the evenings of October 25-26, the room block is now sold out. The hotel may have some suites or other premium rooms available. There are many other nearby hotels in the downtown Indianapolis area. 

To attend the meeting or participate in any of The Sedona Conference’s Working Group Series (WGS) activities, you must be a WGS member. For details on membership, please click here.

CLE

The Sedona Conference will seek CLE accreditation for this meeting in selected jurisdictions (except Virginia), as dictated by attendance.

Confirmed Dialogue Leaders

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa

Des Moines, IA, USA

Nichols Kaster, PLLP

Minneapolis, MN, USA

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

San Diego, CA, USA

Beasley Allen

Atlanta, GA, USA

Dish Network L.L.C.

Denver, CO, USA

Nextpoint

Chicago, IL, USA

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Charlotte, NC, USA

Littler Mendelson, P.C.

Kansas City, MO, USA

Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP

New York, NY, USA

US District Court - Southern District of Indiana

Indianapolis, IN, USA

Redgrave Data

Chantilly, VA, USA

Redgrave LLP

Los Angeles, CA, USA

Innovative Driven

Alpine, UT, USA

NA
ILS

Irvine, CA, USA

Google

Atlanta, GA, USA

Scott+Scott

New York, NY, USA

K&L Gates LLP

Chicago, IL, USA

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Washington, D.C., USA

Husch Blackwell LLP

Kansas City, MO, USA

Sidley Austin LLP

Washington, DC, USA

Hausfeld

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Winston & Strawn LLP

Los Angeles, CA, USA

KLDiscovery

Minnetonka, MN, USA

Judge of District Court, Fourth Judicial District

Minneapolis, MN, USA

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

New York, NY, USA

Proskauer Rose LLP

New York, NY, USA

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

New York, NY, USA

Consilio

San Francisco, CA, USA

Motley Rice LLC

Providence, RI, USA

Littler Mendelson P.C.

Minneapolis, MN, USA

eDiscovery CoCounsel, pllc

Jacksonville, FL, USA

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

San Antonio, TX, USA

Prevail Legal, Inc

Montross, VA, USA

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Detroit, MI, USA

Relativity

Richmond, VA, USA

Redgrave LLP

Chicago, IL, USA

Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP

Kansas City, MO, USA

Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, PC

Dallas, TX, USA

The Sedona Conference

Phoenix, AZ, USA

WG1 2023 Annual Meeting Agenda

Time  Session  Panelists
(All times EDT) Wednesday, October 25, 2023 (*=moderator)
5:30 — 7:30 p.m. Welcome reception  
  Thursday, October 26, 2023  
7:30 — 8:30 a.m. Breakfast & sign-in  
8:30 — 8:45 a.m. Welcome and Announcements Kenneth Withers, Martin Tully
8:45 — 10:15 a.m. [Session 1] ESI Case Law in 2023: Key eDiscovery and ESI Decisions from 2023  
  2023 has ushered in several ESI developments regarding discovery affecting clients and counsel. With new advances in longstanding topics like possession, custody, or control and family production practices, together with guidance on cutting-edge issues like the use of artificial intelligence, document productions from collaboration tools, and the need for better information governance to mitigate the impact of data breaches, this session will provide practitioners with an understanding of the top eDiscovery court decisions issued so far this year. Phil Favro*, Hon. Mark Dinsmore, Laura HuntJeremy Wikler
10:15 — 10:45 a.m. Morning Break  
10:45 — 11:45 a.m. [Session 2] The Path from GenAI to Next Gen Discovery  
  Discovery attorneys have long embraced legal technology, and now generative AI is building the next generation of tools. Mistakes have already been made, and will continue to be, but it is clear GenAI may redefine industry approaches to many aspects of the discovery process. This panel will explore what kinds of changes are happening or expected in document review workflows, drafting of motions and discovery requests/objections, and privilege logs. We will also address ethical considerations and potential impacts to cost structures. Sandra Metallo-Barragan*, Tara Emory, Bobby Malhotra, Chad RobertsCristin Traylor
11:45 a.m. — 12:30 p.m. [Session 3] Drafting Team Report: Discovery-Related Sanctions  
  The Sedona Conference has undertaken a paper focusing on the application and effectiveness of discovery-related sanctions available under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including how sanctions are being used in discovery, the court's application of sanctions since the 2015 amendments, and the interplay between sanctions available under the Rules and the court's inherent authority. This panel will discuss the forthcoming paper and how The Sedona Conference can help practitioners navigate this evolving body of law. Eric Mandel*, Jeannine Kenney, Kelly McNabbHon. Xavier Rodriguez
12:30 — 1:30 p.m. Lunch (provided)  
1:30 — 2:30 p.m. [Session 4] Drafting Team Report: Discovery of Modern Communications and Collaboration Platforms  
  Modern electronic communications and collaboration platform data have less in common than ever with their paper predecessors, with the rise of chat messages, hyperlinks, versioning, and availability of new metadata fields. Reflecting the complex layers and interconnectedness of today’s data, these developments raise new challenges and invite reevaluation of approaches for all phases of discovery and information governance. The dialogue leaders will discuss and elicit membership feedback on the drafting team’s work to date. Gareth Evans*, Doug Forrest, Adam Gajadharsingh, Joseph Guglielmo, Jonathan Orent
2:30 — 3:30 p.m. [Session 5] The Future of Legal Diversity Initiatives under Color-blind Constitutionalism  
  For years, many companies have adopted and implemented policies aimed at diversifying their hiring. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives surged in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. But now, with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, and with a growing movement to abolish race-conscious policies in businesses and in schools, many are asking: what impact will all this have on policies to diversify hiring and schooling in corporate America? What impact will it have on DEI initiatives generally? This Panel will explore those same questions in the legal industry, and what the growing movement to eliminate race-conscious policies means for the legal sector now and in the future. Maureen O'Neill, Niloy Ray, Hon. Xavier RodriguezHon. Elizabeth Stafford
3:30 — 4:00 p.m. Afternoon Break  
4:00 — 5:00 p.m. [Session 6] Brainstorming Group Report: Electronic Information in Government Proceedings  
 

Preservation, handling, review, and production of electronic information are critical aspects of many government regulatory investigations and other proceedings. Some might argue that what we generally call “eDiscovery” first rose to prominence as part of government regulatory actions in the early 2000s, and such proceedings today are at the forefront of highlighting modern electronic information disclosure issues such as the use of personal devices. Most of the laws and commentary on eDiscovery, however, have focused on civil litigation between private entities, and not specifically on the roles and responsibilities of parties in the context of a government proceeding.  

Working Group 1 has recently established a brainstorming group on Electronic Information in Government Proceedings, which will recommend whether to form a drafting team for a Sedona Conference publication on the topic. This panel will update WG1 members on the work of the Government Proceedings brainstorming group, raise and discuss some of the key topics under consideration, and solicit feedback from members.

Michael Blank, Traer Cundiff, Robert Keeling*, Robb Snow
5:00 — 7:00 p.m. Reception (guests invited)  
  Friday, October 27, 2023  
7:30 — 8:30 a.m. Breakfast & sign-in  
8:30 — 10:00 a.m. [Session 7] Voices from the Bench
  This session will present a wide range of judicial perspectives on emerging eDiscovery trends, common disputes, and recent case law. This esteemed panel will discuss hot topics such as ESI protocols, search negotiations, privilege logging, linked documents, redactions, and preferred practices for assessing and resolving eDiscovery disputes. Rebekah Bailey*, Hon. Helen Adams, Hon. Mark Dinsmore, Hon. Scott McCoyHon. Elizabeth Stafford
10:00 — 10:30 a.m. Break  
10:30 — 11:30 a.m. [Session 8] Brainstorming Group Report: The Sufficiency of Rule 26(a)(1) Initial Disclosures   
  Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures can be extremely useful early in discovery if they are complete and correct. But what does Rule 26(g)’s “complete and correct” requirement mean in the context of initial disclosures? This panel will discuss the Initial Disclosures brainstorming group's preliminary thoughts, and elicit membership feedback, on whether to form a drafting team for a Sedona Conference publication that addresses the following issues: 
  • are parties currently living up to the original intent of the Rule and meeting their obligations to make a reasonable inquiry into the facts in preparing the disclosures; 
  • as part of a party’s initial disclosures, should they be identifying custodians, including the names, titles and departments of custodians, and custodial and noncustodial data sources containing potentially relevant ESI for potential collection, review, and production; 
  • is the timing for initial disclosures under Rule 26(a)(1)(C) workable for the parties to provide sufficient disclosures? 
Elliot Bienenfeld, Brett BurneyKristen Marttila, Hon. Scott McCoyAlicia Hawley*, Steven Williams
11:30 — 12 noon [Session 9] The State of Working Group 1  
  We will discuss recent publications of WG1 and papers currently in the publication process, and dialogue on the evolving state of the industry and where WG1 should be focusing its publishing and thought-leadership efforts over the next 12 months. Martin Tully, Claudia Morgan
12 noon — 1:00 p.m. [Session 10] Ethical Obligations in Responding to Discovery  
  This panel will explore the ethical obligations counsel faces in responding to requests for documents. Specifically, this panel will discuss counsel’s ethical obligations when searching for and collecting responsive documents, when selecting custodians, and when evaluating a requesting party’s search terms and custodian picks. The panel will consider hypotheticals that will help explore areas where a producing party/counsel has to make decisions that could impact his or her ethical obligations to opposing counsel and the court. The panel will address applicable Professional Rules of Responsibility, Federal Rules, related case law, and applicable Sedona Principles. Tessa Jacob*, Hon. Helen Adams, Lea Bays, Travis Bustamante, Andrea D'Ambra
1:00 p.m. — 1:15 p.m. Closing remarks and wrap-up Kenneth Withers
1:15 p.m. Adjournment & Grab-and-go lunch (provided)  
Date: 
Thursday, October 26, 2023 - 8:30am to Friday, October 27, 2023 - 1:15pm