The 2025 Discovery Case Law Year in Review is now available from Minerva26! Here’s what it contains and how to get a copy of it.
As is the case with all annual case law reports from Minerva26, the 2025 Discovery Case Law Year in Review (available here) breaks down how courts are evaluating preservation, supervision, and production decisions in real disputes. This year’s report addresses case law trends including:
- Generative AI risk: How courts are treating AI prompts and output logs as discoverable evidence, and what that means.
- Mobile device failures: Why “lost phone” and routine deletion excuses are driving spoliation sanctions.
- Hyperlinked file obligations: What “contemporaneous versions” now require, and how courts are enforcing technical feasibility.
- Supervision breakdowns: Where self-collection and poor oversight triggered seven-figure sanctions.
- Redaction and threading limits: How courts are restricting unilateral redactions and incomplete email threading.
- Defensible discovery governance: What to document early so you can explain and defend your decisions later.
The much streamlined report this year (15 total pages) begins with an Executive Brief that discusses how “Discovery is no longer viewed merely as a technical support task or a series of boxes to check; it has evolved into a strategic discipline where counsel’s decisions—not just the tools or the effort—are under intense judicial scrutiny.” It also includes a sub-section defining four areas of “The 2025 Discovery Risk Landscape”.
The core of the document consists of five parts, as follows:
- Part I: Generative AI — The New Frontier of Evidence and Ethics
- Part II: Hyperlinked Files — “Contemporaneous” May Be Required
- Part III: Mobile Devices — The “Trade-In” Excuse Fails
- Part IV: When Discovery Breaks Down — Sanctions and Supervision
- Part V: Execution Errors That Undermine Strategy
Each section links to multiple cases that illustrate the case law trend and each ends with two or three helpful “Practical Takeaways and Strategic Insights”. The final page – Conclusion: Building a Defensible Strategy for 2026” provides four recommendations for counsel to better be prepared for court expectations going into 2026.
Again, the 2025 Discovery Case Law Year in Review is available from Minerva26 here. Did I mention it’s FREE? Now I have. 😉
So, what do you think? Is your organization prepared for court expectations on discovery practices in 2026? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.