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Questions

1. What is EDRM?
2. Who is involved?
3. What is the group trying to accomplish?
4. How does EDRM operate?
5. How much of my time will this take?
6. Will I get continuing legal eduction (CLE) credits for attending EDRM meetings?
7. I’m part of an in-house legal team. Does this apply to me?
8. Does EDRM provide consulting services?
9. What is the evaluation/screening process for organizations that are looking to get involved?
10. How can EDRM help me/my organization?
11. What type of resource materials does the group publish?
12. What other industry experts have validated EDRM?

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Answers

1. What is EDRM?

   EDRM – the Electronic Discovery Reference Model – was created in May 2005 to address the lack of standards and guidelines in the electronic discovery (e-discovery) market – a problem identified in the 2003 and 2004 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery surveys as a major concern for consumers and providers alike.

   The completed reference model provides a common, flexible and extensible framework for the development, selection, evaluation and use of electronic discovery products and services. The completed model was placed in the public domain in May 2006.

2. Who is involved?

   EDRM was co-founded by e-discovery experts and consultants George Socha and Tom Gelbmann. Since 2005, over 300 e-discovery experts, vendors and end-users from more than 125 organizations have worked together to develop standards and frameworks for addressing e-discovery challenges.

   For a list of current participating organizations, click here.

3. What is the group trying to accomplish?

   EDRM's core objective is to improve the electronic discovery process for everyone involved. EDRM seeks to achieve this objective by establishing guidelines, setting standards, and delivering resources.

   To this end, EDRM is organized as projects, working groups and committees.

   For the 2009-2010 year, EDRM has eight projects: Data Set; Evergreen; the Information Management Reference Model; Jobs; Metrics; Model Code of Conduct; Search; and XML.

4. How does EDRM operate?

   Projects

   EDRM operates as a set of working projects. The projects operate on a May-to-May year. Each project has its own goals, deliverables and timeline. For a list of current projects and links to those projects, go to edrm.net.

   Working Groups

   Most projects are organized as a series of working groups. This is done to provide tighter focus and to divide the work into more manageable chuncks. As with the projects, each working group has its own goals, deliverables and timeline.

   Leadership

   Each project has two leaders. Each working group has one, two or three leaders. The role of the leaders is to keep the projects and working groups on track, on task, and on time.

   Meetings

   EDRM has four in-person meetings each May-to-May project year.

   Spring: Each project year starts with a two-day kick-off meeting in May. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting, as this is where projects for the coming year are finalized, leaderships positions filled, and preliminary work on the projects begun.

   Summer: At the Annual ILTA Education Conference, EDRM holds informal get-together sessions for EDRM participants.

   Fall: EDRM holds a two-day, mid-year working meeting each Fall. This is an opportunity for participants to sit down with each other and make the kind of process that only can be accomplished at in-person meetings.

   Winter: At LegalTech New York, EDRM holds informational sessions, informal get-together sessions, and a reception for current and potential EDRM participants.

   Most EDRM working meetings are virtual, however, conducted via email, through teleconferences, with electronic bulletin boards, etc.

   Infrastructure

   A participant-only section of the EDRM website is used to help manage the projects and working groups. It has areas for each project and each working group, and provides task, calendar, file upload and download, and related functions.

   Each project and each working groups also has its own dedicated email communications capabilities and bulletin board forums.

   Audio and web conferencing capabilities are provided as needed.

5. How much of my time will this take?

   We do not set minimum time requirements; rather, we ask that participants make a good faith effort to be active, productive contributors. That might be an hour or two a week, or more, or less. It will vary over the course of the year. We do strongly suggest, however, that participants limit themselves to one or two working groups.

6. Will I get continuing legal eduction (CLE) credits for attending EDRM meetings?

   No. We have not applied for CLE credits for EDRM meetings or other activities. EDRM meetings, such as the May kick-off meeting and the October mid-year meeting, are not meant to be courses taught by faculty members to attendees. Rather, they are working meetings designed to help participants develop EDRM content.

7. I’m part of an in-house legal team. Does this apply to me?

   Yes. In-house legal teams increasingly must participate in e-discovery activities. That means in-house teams need to understand the step-by-step e-discovery process. It also means others need to understand the e-discovery needs of in-house legal teams and the clients they serve, the constraints under which they work, and their goals and aspirations. EDRM provides a forum for sharing advice and best practices; a vehicle for conveying needs, desires and limitations; and a mechanism for helping to develop a simple and easy-to-understand framework for grasping the current state of e-discovery.

8. Does EDRM provide consulting services?

   No. EDRM is a guidelines and standards body designed to educate about e-discovery challenges, vendors and processes. The founders of the organization, George Socha and Tom Gelbmann, each provide consulting services through their independent endeavors. In addition, many of the EDRM participating organizations provide consulting and guidance to law firms, corporations, governmental bodies and other enterprises dealing with e-discovery issues.

9. What is the evaluation/screening process for organizations that are looking to get involved?

   EDRM is open to everyone. Participants are required to contribute their time and expertise, without which the projects could not function and would not succeed. It is expected that participants will offer relevant and valuable assistance to the EDRM Projects. Participants are also required to pay an annual fee to participate in ongoing activities and project work.

10. How can EDRM help me/my organization?

    EDRM serves as a guidepost for organizations perplexed by the costs and complexities of e-discovery. This is a new and emerging problem for most law firms and in-house legal teams, thus the majority of those faced with e-discovery are unsure of how to proceed or where to look for assistance. EDRM provides a framework of processes, educational materials, and an index of solutions providers focused on addressing specific challenges of e-discovery.

11. What type of resource materials does the group publish?

    EDRM supplies guidelines, standards, whitepapers, research materials, Webinars, news, data sheets and other items to help educate e-discovery consumers and providers. These materials can be found on the EDRM Web site, http://edrm.net, as well as on the Web sites of most participating organizations.

12. What other industry experts have validated EDRM?

    Major industry analyst firms including Gartner, Forrester and IDC have all embraced EDRM as a credible and legitimate framework for addressing issues relating to e-discovery. Nearly all of the leading vendors in the space have adopted the EDRM framework and are working to design their products around this model. Further, legal industry pundits including Monica Bay, Craig Ball and others agree that EDRM is the most comprehensive and accurate resource available today for understanding e-discovery.

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