The December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) require, among other things, that the parties must discuss the e-discovery issues as soon as possible after filing. This includes reserving discoverable data, plans for how the data will be produced and in what format. Failing in these matters has proved to be costly for some companies. When Morgan Stanley lost 7,000 email messages, and declined to allow its opponent to hire a neutral, paying for half, the judge in the matter was displeased and eventually ordered a $1.5 billion decision against the company. A large number of companies remain unprepared to comply or respond to demands for electronic discovery. Read more about the issues in E-Discovery: New Federal Rules Require A Proactive Strategy by Patrick Mueller of Information Week.