The Curious Case of the Hyphen in E-Discovery/eDiscovery

Winston & Strawn's Washington, D.C., office? Clearly not on my side. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/The National Law Journal

I have something perhaps shameful to admit. I'm a hyphen truther. For years, I've planted my flag staunchly in that side of an important debate that has ripped through legal technology for years: Do you spell e-discovery/eDiscovery with or without a hyphen? I've corrected articles to read "e-discovery," have debated about how to capitalize it in headlines, and listened as my peers staunchly rebuked my hyphenated ways.

As it turns out, my preferred method may not be the industry's at large. In an informal poll I conducted via email and Twitter in April, more than half (54%) of 53 respondents said that "eDiscovery" was their preferred way to spell the term, compared with just 19% for the hyphenated version. An additional 27% said that it doesn't matter, because it's all "discovery" anyway!

This finding brought me great trauma; it was part of a public Relativity Fest panel last year where I planted my flag in the hyphen camp. Now though, I'm having second thoughts. Sitting next to me at that event was Kelly Twigger, principal at ESI Attorneys and a prominent writer on e-discovery, and she's declaring victory.