The spring 2006 issue of the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property has two articles on the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.   Those amendments are scheduled to go into effect in December 2006, so it's time to start thinking about their effect. 

Kenneth J. Withers wrote  Electronically Stored Information:  The December 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.   The article includes discussion of the "distinctive characteristics of electronically stored information" and and overview of the 2006 amendments.   It ends with analysis of five cases that have already addressed the amended rules as persuasive authority even though the rules are not yet in effect.

Nathan Larsen addresses that issue that strikes fear in the heart of every lawyer -- spoliation -- in "Evaluating the Proposed Changes to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37:  Spoliation, Routine Operation and the Rules Enabling Act." 

Both of these articles give important insight into the new rules.