Sorry to say that I was not in attendance last week at the 8th Annual Advanced E-Discovery Institute presented by Georgetown Law CLE in Arlington, Va. Fortunately for us non-attenders, Law Technology News editor Monica Bay, reporter Evan Koblentz and contributor Mark Michels were there and filed several reports about the sessions.

Monica Bay

Monica Bay was in attendance Thursday morning when the institute opened with what she describes as “a fast-paced case law update presented by six of the most well-known jurists in the legal industry.” The nearly two-hour session “covered cases that illustrated a wide range of issues that were in consideration during 2011,” Monica reports. Among the topics–preservation, proportionality and cooperation. One notable topic was e-discovery competence. “I don’t see how you can provide competent representation if you don’t have some basic understanding of e-discovery,” U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Waxse of Kansas told the audience.

Also in attendance at the case law update was Mark Michels, a contributor to Law Technology News and its EDD Update blog and a former discovery counsel at Cisco Systems. At EDD Update, he posted about a case “outside of the EDD mainstream that serves as a cautionary tale for e-discovery professionals.” I refer you to Michels’ post for the details of this appellate bankruptcy decision, but the bottom line was that attorneys who rely on computerized systems need to understand that garbage in is garbage out.

Michels also posted about comments made at the conference describing the success of the Electronic Discovery Special Master’s Program in the U.S. District Court for Pennsylvania’s Western District.

On Friday morning, attention turned to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as a panel engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about anticipated revisions to the rules to better address issues in e-discovery. As Evan Koblentz reports, all eyes on the panel appeared focused on the FRCP e-discovery subcommittee that is expected to propose rule changes early next year, as well as on a Dec. 13 Congressional hearing on the costs and burdens of discovery.

If those reports still did not quell your remorse over not attending the Georgetown Institute, I am happy to say there are also an abundance of photos, all posted by Monica. They can be found here, here, here and here.