270 Chapter10·Headlines,Redlines,andDeadlines Introduction There is no doubt that every decision made in the e-discovery process plays a critical role in the larger case as a whole, but ultimately, all of those decisions lead up to one of the most stressful times during your case: the production. Was your production in the correct format? Were all privileged documents identified and removed appropriately and/or redacted properly? Was the quality control protocol used thorough and accurate? And when do you need to produce again? At the beginning of your matter when everyone is working to establish the proper protocols for data preservation, collection, processing, and review, you also need to be thinking critically about the end of discovery and your production. Decisions made early on, during a meet-and-confer process or at the time of data processing, can dramatically affect the manner in which you need to produce, and ultimately, how long it will take. Let's face it--there are a lot of moving parts during discovery and it takes a great deal of hard work to ensure that everything comes together so that deadlines and budgets are comfortably met or even exceeded! Successful productions are attributable not only to the teams of attorneys but also to the teams of dedicated and experienced litigation support folks. It is absolutely critical to have the right people involved in your matter to look out for the best interests of your company or the end-client and to meet or exceed those deadlines and budgets mentioned earlier. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the practicalities of producing information in today's e-discovery environment and will touch on a number of key items when involved in matters with electronic evidence and production requirements. But first, a little bit of background... Production: Federal and State Rules On December 1, 2006, Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect detailing how electronically stored information (ESI) should be handled. For the purposes of this chapter, we'll focus on the meet-and-confer process and the need to discuss forms of production and agreements for handling the inadvertent production of privileged ESI. Rule 34 allows the party requesting documents to specify the form of production of ESI. Generally, parties involved in the litigation should agree to the form of production at the Rule 26(f ) meet and confer. From a practical standpoint, set this agreement up-front because you will want to ensure that the form decided upon is still an option after all processing and review have been completed. Also, because many states either have rules already in place or are looking to amend their rules to include procedures for handling ESI, it is mandatory to thoroughly review and understand any state or local rules that are applicable to your case. At the beginning of any new matter, make sure to review all pertinent rules as they relate to the discovery of electronic information, and involve the right folks to bring you up to speed as these rules are critical to the successful outcome of your matter. N ote It is likely that one of the most important aspects of the Rules will be your under- standing of Rule 26(b)5, which allows a party to request the return of ESI that was inadvertently produced. If you make such a request, remember to provide the basis or reason as to why you are recalling the ESI.