New Federal Rules of Civil Procedure became law on December 1st, 2006, which most corporate lawyers and attorneys are either unfamiliar with or have not been required to use.

There are three rules specifically that impact Computer Forensics and E-Discovery which need to be considered when building a case for your client, as well as protecting your client’s rights. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 26, Rule 34, and Rule 45, have been updated in accordance with Computer Forensics and Electronic Evidence Discovery and have added many new procedures for handling and requesting electronic information.

On December 1, 2006, many amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect. There are three rules specifically that impact Computer Forensics and E-Discovery which need to be considered when building a case for your client, as well as protecting your client’s rights.

Most companies fail to realize the following two points:

• Any data that can be compiled into viewable form, whether presented electronically or printed on paper, is potentially within the definition of “document”.

• Electronic documents may be considered obsolete by the business in terms of its current computer infrastructure, but may have archival value and be recoverable to a readable format by specialized forensic techniques.