Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) meaning

A widely used workflow for managing electronically stored information (ESI) in legal matters—often called “EDRM”—covering the lifecycle from information governance, identification, preservation and collection through processing, review, analysis, production and presentation. It is not defined in legislation or case law; rather, it is an industry framework used to design defensible, proportionate e‑disclosure/e‑discovery processes and to record decisions. Created in May 2005 to address the lack of common standards in the US e‑discovery market, the model was placed in the public domain in May 2006. Despite its US origins, it is widely applied in the UK and Ireland and aligns with disclosure obligations under the Civil Procedure Rules and with equivalent court rules in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Terminology varies (disclosure vs discovery), but usage is broadly consistent across these jurisdictions. In practice, legal teams use the EDRM to scope and budget disclosure, issue and monitor legal holds, identify custodians and data sources, preserve and collect data, select processing and review workflows (including technology‑assisted review), maintain audit trails and chain of custody, agree production formats (eg native, TIFF/PDF with load files), and prepare material for hearings and trial.