Negotiation of electronically stored information (ESI) protocols is always a complicated endeavor. There are those who prefer to leave holes in the protocol, allowing the parties latitude and thinking it can be sorted out later if there is a challenge to the methodology. Other attorneys prefer to outline every aspect of the ESI preservation, collection, review and production in the protocol to avoid uncertainties in the process. And still others fail to address certain items they do not know must be included—a failure that many courts will no longer excuse.