The explosive growth of ESI has made for more costly, complex litigation and driven changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). These changes will continue to shape e-discovery, and roles in e-discovery, technology and litigation support will continue to emerge. Median annual spend on corporate litigation expenditures Norton Rose "2016 Litigation Trends Annual Survey" $1,000,000 Special Eurobarometer 431 - Data protection, June 2015 of people say their explicit approval should be required in all cases before their data is collected and processed As 2016 winds down, here's a quick summary of the top legal industry trends, new and old, to watch for in 2017. LEGAL TRENDS E-DISCOVERY CHANGES TO WATCH FOR IN 2017 Artificial intelligence (AI) gets smarter every day. Its potential to automate tasks like TAR, map judicial predispositions to predict rulings or analyze opposing counsel tactics to help prepare defenses continue to grow.