In October 2009, the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) released a preliminary report on the results of a national, case-based civil rules survey conducted in May and June 2009. The survey posed questions regarding discovery activities and case management practices in federal civil cases that closed during the final quarter of 2008. The FJC report was compiled to facilitate discussion regarding discovery practices and potential remedies for commonly encountered discovery issues at the group's upcoming conference in 2010.

Of particular note for the e-discovery industry is Section III of the report which discusses electronic discovery in the surveyed cases. The report states that although approximately 80% of all respondents had some kind of conference with opposing counsel regarding a discovery plan, only 30% indicated that ESI was discussed. The report also concluded that cases involving electronic discovery had a higher median cost than those that did not.

The full report can be found here.