| Time |
Session |
Dialogue Leaders |
| |
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 |
(*=moderator) |
| 5:30 — 7:30 p.m. |
Welcome Reception |
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Thursday, October 23, 2025 |
|
| 7:30 — 8:45 a.m. |
Breakfast & sign-in |
|
| 8:45 — 9:00 a.m. |
Welcome and Announcements |
Claudia Morgan, Ken Withers |
| 9:00 — 10:15 a.m. |
[Session 1] Case Law Review: Key eDiscovery and ESI Decisions from 2025 |
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Description: The year 2025 has ushered in several developments regarding discovery and ESI. Attendees will gain insights into new wrinkles in longstanding topics such as sanctions, proportionality, and the duty of reasonable inquiry. This includes a review of cases on non-waiver orders where recent opinions have indicated that parties may consider taking additional steps to ensure that Rule 502(d) protections apply. In addition, attendees will learn about technological advances on cutting-edge trends such as artificial intelligence where courts are admonishing parties on the boundaries of using AI to advance client interests in discovery. This session will review key eDiscovery decisions from this year and their impact on discovery practice going forward. |
|
| 10:15 — 10:45 a.m. |
Morning Break |
|
| 10:45 — 11:45 a.m. |
[Session 2] Meeting the Mark: Recommendations for Path Forward to Complying with Initial Disclosure Oblications under Rule 26 |
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| |
Initial Disclosures are more than just a procedural requirement. They are an opportunity to shape the narrative of a case and set the stage for collaborative discourse with an opponent. This session will provide an overview and in-depth analysis of Rule 26(a)(1)’s mandate for Initial Disclosures and the practical challenges of the Rule as currently written. Expect to learn practical insights and strategies on how to prepare timely and complete disclosures by efficiently identifying the appropriate witnesses and sources of relevant information and best practices on supplementing disclosures. Attendees will gain an understanding of how to respond to challenges posed by the timing of Rule 26(a)(1)’s disclosures, lengthy pleadings, and complex information systems with growing data volumes. |
|
| 11:45 a.m. — 12:15 p.m. |
[Session 3] Additional WG1 Drafting Team and Brainstorming Group Updates |
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| |
The session will provide an update to the membership on the continuing efforts and progress of WG1 papers and brainstorming groups on topics including Sanctions, Rule 26(f), and Government Privileges. This session will also provide an update on the WG1 papers released for public comment and those that have reached final publication. |
|
| 12:15 — 1:30 p.m. |
Lunch (provided) |
|
| 1:30 — 2:30 p.m. |
[Session 4] Practical Strategies for Managing, Modifying, and Lifting Legal Holds |
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This panel will provide guidance on practical and defensible legal strategies for managing, modifying, and lifting legal holds. The panel will recommend principles to consider, including proportionality, engagement with opposing counsel, privacy and data protection laws, and spoliation claims and sanctions. The panel will also examine hypothetical situations, best practices, and recommended framework for evaluating if or when to lift a legal hold or portions of the hold. |
|
| 2:30 — 3:30 p.m. |
[Session 5] Professionalism in the Era of Misinformation: Upholding Truth and Integrity |
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This panel evaluates the challenges posed by the spread of misinformation and disinformation, particularly in the context of legal proceedings and public discourse. Lawyers have a professional responsibility to uphold truth and integrity, even in the face of false or misleading information. But is there a difference between truth and honesty? During this session we will learn about attorney obligations, professional boundaries, and expectations of behavior for attorneys when communicating with clients, opposing counsel, and judges, including how to combat misinformation in legal proceedings and promote public trust in the legal system. |
, |
| 3:30 — 3:45 p.m. |
Afternoon Break |
|
| 3:45 — 5:00 p.m. |
[Session 6] Generative AI in Discovery: A New Frontier or TAR Reimagined? |
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Technology Assisted Review (TAR) has been around for a long time, but the industry has not seen full-scale adoption. Now generative AI has entered the picture. Is this just another form of TAR or is this something new? Can we apply the legal framework and the lessons we have learned over the past decade with TAR to generative AI so that we can forge a new path to widespread adoption? This session will define Generative AI and how it works, how Generative AI can be used in discovery, considerations based on prior learnings in discovery practice and TAR, and how existing ethical rules and rules of practice already provide the guidelines and framework for using generative AI in discovery. We will evaluate what type of guidance is needed for the industry to validate and adopt generative AI technologies in connection with e-discovery. |
|
| 5:00 — 7:00 p.m. |
Reception (guests invited) |
|
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Friday, October 24, 2025 |
|
| 7:30 — 8:45 a.m. |
Breakfast & sign-in |
|
| 8:45 — 10:15 a.m. |
[Session 7] Voices from the Bench: Balancing Cooperation and Control in eDiscovery |
| |
This session will explore the evolving judicial role in balancing two foundational—but sometimes competing—tenets of eDiscovery: Sedona Principle 3, which promotes early and meaningful party collaboration on preservation and production, and Sedona Principle 6, which affirms that responding parties are best situated to determine the appropriate procedures, methodologies, and technologies for their own electronically stored information (ESI). This panel will provide critical analysis on how courts are managing that balance, using tools like standing orders, Rule 26(f) conferences, protective orders, and ESI protocols. Attendees will learn practical insights into how judicial intervention can help ensure fairness, safeguard the legitimate interests of responding parties, and support principled collaboration in today’s evolving eDiscovery landscape.
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|
| 10:15 — 10:45 a.m. |
Break |
|
| 10:45 — 11:45 a.m. |
[Session 8] ESI Case Law in 2025: Key Trends and Developments |
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ESI case law in 2025 is pushing courts to consider both technologically challenging and well-worn topics. While addressing key issues involving AI, district and circuit courts have provided additional clarity on the preservation and production requirements regarding newer sources of discoverable ESI. This session will address those issues, along with guidance from courts on technological challenges regarding ESI protocols such as those involving family productions of hyperlinked documents. This session will review some of the top eDiscovery cases from the past six months on these and other issues and discuss how they may affect discovery practice going forward into 2026. |
|
| 11:45 — 12:45 p.m. |
[Session 9] Ethical Obligations in the World of GenAI: Redefining Responsibilities and Navigating Challenges |
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: Generative AI is here to stay and is transforming legal practices. However, its use also raises numerous questions about a lawyer’s ethical duties. This session will focus on how the existing rules of professional conduct, including duties of competence, confidentiality, supervision, and candor apply in the context of AI-assisted lawyering. The panel will evaluate the ethical considerations, risks and responsibilities associated with using generative AI tools, including accuracy, bias, client consent, and the potential unauthorized practice of law, and it will provide practical guidance for navigating this new ethical landscape. |
|
| 12:45 p.m. — 1:00 p.m. |
Closing remarks and wrap-up |
Ken Withers |
| 1:00 p.m. |
Adjournment & Grab-and-go lunch (provided) |
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