Requesting and producing discovery material in litigation has undergone a radical change - yet most practitioners cling to the paper past. In the 1850’s when Abraham Lincoln practiced law he managed his client's information using paper folders. Today, most practitioners still adhere to this way of practicing law, though now we see boxes upon boxes of paper documents. Times have changed. Computer technology and the Internet have transformed litigation from a sea of paper to a sea of electronic evidence. “According to a University of California study, 93% of all information generated during 1999 was generated in digital form, on computers. Only 7% of information originated in other media, such as paper.” In re Bristol-Myers Squibb Securities Litigation, 205 F.R.D. 437, 440 n.2 (D.N.J. 2002).

Increasingly, legal professionals are confronted with a wide range of litigation which involves discovery of information contained in digital data stored in electronic devices. These devices typically include; personal computers, servers, networks, portable digital assistant devices and digital storage media. As modern economies make more pervasive use of these devices, it is a reasonable proposition that the effective use of this digital data will be influential for successful legal outcomes.