2015 was a big and busy year for eDiscovery decisions. From the expanding relevance of social media and cloud data and the December updates to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) to the recent California eDiscovery Ethics Opinion and the death of Safe Harbor, there is a lot to keep an eye on. Below are 10 cases from 2015 that you need to know in order to stay abreast of the latest developments in the field.

The recently enacted amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have brought a certain amount of hype to the eDiscovery world. While the amendments have been greatly anticipated for the potential impact they could have in eDiscovery, some have questioned whether the changes will have any noticeable effect on the current discovery process. Despite these doubts, courts appear to be embracing the revised rules with vigor. Indeed, as discussed in a recent article published by Bloomberg BNA publication Big Law Business, several decisions interpreting the amended rules have already been issued in the nearly two months since they became effective.

The consumerization of IT has brought tremendous opportunity to the business world. By empowering employees with the convenience of smart phones, tablet computers, and cloud computing, companies can transact business across the globe at any time and in any place. Despite the obvious benefits, consumerization has also introduced a number of problems into the corporate environment. As I discussed recently on a podcast with ACEDs, this is especially the case with employee use of personal cloud computing providers such as Dropbox, Box, and iCloud.

As you have read in my prior posts, you can utilize workflows and technology to find a needle in a haystack, or to find out what needles can be found in your evidentiary haystack. There are matters where you are still learning about the context of you’re your case – once you learn that, you can use it as a guiding force to rapidly develop newly discovered areas of inquiry. Using the tools I outline below, you can leverage technology to make short work of your document dump while creating a robust evidentiary set.

Many new attorneys come out of law school today with very little knowledge of e-Discovery other than the fact that ESI exists and is discoverable. Only about one-third of ABA accredited law schools today offer a dedicated course in e-Discovery. With the significant percentage that document review can take up in the billable hours of new associates and the potential for these newer lawyers to bring a more technologically savvy perspective to their firms, law schools and other actors in the legal education market can make a few changes to educate the next generation of attorneys in the practical skills and knowledge they’ll need on the job.