Mega-litigation and Discovery of Documents

The ALRC has released a consultation paper (ALRC CP 2) on the discovery of documents for Federal Court cases on 15 November 2010. The paper highlights the complexities of litigation in the age of vast computer storage. In particular it looks at concerns raised about how electronic searches for ‘smoking gun’ documents during discovery are causing considerable strain on both the legal community and the resources of IT departments of the corporations involved in such litigation. 

A Federal Court case cited as an example of the matters being investigated is Seven Network Limited v News Limited (the C7 case) where Sackville J said that: “The outcome of the processes of discovery and production of documents in this case was an electronic database containing 85,653 documents, comprising 589,392 pages. Ultimately, 12,849 ‘documents’, comprising 115,586 pages were admitted into evidence.”

What are your views on the growing complexity and expense of discovery in legal proceedings?

You can read more on this topic at itnews for Australian Business or obtain the consultation paper at the ALRC website. Submission close Wednesday 19 January 2010.

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