During the next 45 minutes, we will discuss changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that went into effect on Friday December 1, and focus on how they might effect electronic discovery. My name is Ken Withers, and I am a research associate at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington DC, the research and education agency of the United States Courts. I'll start out this segment with an overview of the amendments as they relate to the discovery of computer-based information.

Then I will turn the microphone over to Magistrate Judge John Carroll of the Middle District of Alabama, who will give his own views of the life under the amended Rules, and in the process will answer all of your questions.

Then we want to talk a little about the future: describe the process by which the rules change, and outline the shape of the current debate over whether our Federal Rules need further amendment to accommodate electronic discovery.