A Neutral is a judicial adjunct assigned to oversee various aspects of a litigation matter and assist the Judge with resolving specific issues. When appointed under FRCP Rule 53, they are referred to as "Masters" or "Special Masters".

These are two terms that relate to the same role—the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals (ACAN) voted in summer 2022 to change its name from the Academy of Court-Appointed Masters to the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals for a multitude of reasons, including:

• "Neutral" better defines and serves the profession
• "Master" has multiple positive and negative connotations, and some states have already begun to remove this term from their lexicons
• "Neutral" describes the multiple roles that an individual may be asked to fulfill--expert, mediator, facilitator, investigator, advisor, and many others.

For additional information, see ACAN's article.

A Digital Forensic Neutral, more commonly called Forensic Neutral, is a person with extensive experience and training related to the forensic collection, preservation and analysis of electronically stored information ("ESI"). They are usually appointed by a Court or mutually selected by the parties to assist with resolving complex issues. A few examples of the work that a Digital Forensic Neutral may perform are:

• Assist with drafting digital forensic protocols
• Ensure compliance with digital forensic protocols
• Forensically collect and preserve digital evidence
• Forensically analyze digital evidence as directed by the Court or agreed-upon protocol
• Perform forensic remediation, such as forensic deletion of data from systems, pursuant to a Court order or settlement agreement
• Retain evidence for a period of time based on a Court order or settlement agreement

A Neutral is appointed by the judge to oversee various aspects of a litigation matter. Judges usually accept recommendations from the parties for consideration.

The fee for a Neutral is usually split equally between the parties. The fee arrangement is documented in the Appointment Order issued by the Judge.

A general draft order with wording to address most Neutral appointments can be found here.

Additional sample orders can be found on the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals' website here.