Last week, Craig Ball released his Electronic Evidence Workbook 2026. Believe it or not, it’s more comprehensive than ever!
Craig discusses it (and provides a link to it) in this blog post on his excellent Ball in Your Court blog (Electronic Evidence Workbook 2026). As Craig notes, the 2026 edition is “a thoroughly revised 638 pages. This edition leans into LLMs, reflecting the growing imperative that law schools graduate students who can use AI competently, ethically, and strategically.”
In a sign of the times, Craig states: “For the first time, I put myself in the hands of AI editors—two of them—to help proof, tighten, and update entire chapters.” Other notable observations from Craig:
- “I’m especially pleased to include a full-fledged forensic imaging exercise for the many Mac users in my classes who’ve long struggled to find free imaging tools that run on macOS. The workflow relies on Terminal and the command line, giving students a taste of what computing felt like through much of my early career.”
- “While I retained material on topics like tape backup and on-prem email, the revision acknowledges the ascendancy of the cloud and post-pandemic changes in the workplace.”
- “Students are thrown into the deep end by Exercise 3, working in a commercial e-discovery platform even as they take their first steps eastward along the EDRM.”
- “My approach remains deliberately heavy on systems and forensics.”
As Craig notes: “Working with an LLM to revise the Workbook proved as educational for me as for my students. Preserving my voice and experience on every page required vigilance, but collaborating with such a careful and capable editor was a genuine pleasure.
So it’s finally out there—much the same workbook, yet changed by AI like its author.”
As I mentioned, Craig’s Electronic Evidence Workbook 2026 is comprehensive. How comprehensive? Here’s a list of the non-exercise chapters in the workbook:
- Goals for this Workbook
- Introduction to Discovery in U.S. Civil Litigation
- Why E-Discovery and Digital Evidence?
- What Lawyers Must Know About Electronic Discovery and Digital Evidence
- The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM)
- Introduction to Data Storage Media
- Introduction to Metadata
- Processing in E-Discovery
- Encoding and Steganography
- Processing Part II
- Processing Glossary
- Introduction to Digital Forensics and Examination Protocols
- The Perfect Preservation Letter
- Computer Backup Systems
- TEN PRACTICE TIPS FOR BACKUPS IN CIVIL DISCOVERY (2026)
- Databases in E-Discovery
- Mastering E-Mail in Discovery
- The Next Arc of Exercises
- Custodial Hold: Trust but Verify
- The Leery Lawyer’s Guide to AI and LLMs in Trial Practice
- Mobile Data in E-Discovery
- Simple, Scalable Solutions to iOS-Device Preservation
- Search Science and The Streetlight Effect in e-Discovery
- Forms that Function
- The Annotated E-Discovery Protocol: A Primer on ESI Protocols
- Preparing for Meet and Confer
- APPENDIX A: Materials for use with Exercises 16 and 24
- The “E-Discovery Rules” (1, 16, 26, 34 & 45) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
- Federal Rule of Evidence 502
- FRE Rule 902: Evidence That Is Self-Authenticating
- Exemplar FRE 902(14) Certification
- TRCP Rule 196.4 Electronic or Magnetic Data
There are also 24 exercises interspersed throughout the workbook to go with the topics above. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. If you’re interested in learning about eDiscovery, take your time and go through his Workbook. If you’re not interested in learning about eDiscovery, what are you reading this blog for? 🤔
So, what do you think? Are you going to read Craig’s Electronic Evidence Workbook 2026? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
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