98
and the spirit of cooperation are key. Be prepared to
meet and confer on the specific burden to your client
and propose an approach that identifies a reasonable
universe of options. Negotiations should limit the
risk of expanding the scope of what is relevant by
only agreeing to the production of contemporaneous
versions to the extent that they are available. Courts
have repeatedly supported a proportional approach.
(In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal
Injury Products Liability Litigation, No. 22-md-03047-
YGR (PHK), 2024 WL 1786293, at *7 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 20,
2024) Parties who can negotiate a reasonable universe
without court intervention are better positioned
to limit client burden, prevent delay and avoid
unforeseen costs.
CONCLUSION
As cloud-based collaboration continues to soar,
hyperlinks are becoming a dominant, but often
misunderstood, form of modern data—their lack of
embedded context and technical complexity challenge
long-standing assumptions about discoverability and
document production. Legal teams must approach
hyperlinks with caution to ensure their use is leveraged
effectively and not a costly source of risk. Investing
in a deep understanding of client systems, carefully
crafting ESI protocols, and proactively addressing
metadata, scope, and preservation concerns is crucial
to achieving defensible and efficient discovery.
With courts increasingly scrutinizing the nuances
of hyperlink functionality and usability, a forward-
thinking, cooperative, and technically informed
approach will provide the flexibility necessary to be
agile in the digital age.
