Logikcull webcast 'Discovery Malpractice Is At Your Doorstep'
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From privilege waivers to data breach, the threat of legal malpractice related to discovery and data handling is real and, despite relative silence on the issue, pervasive. Smart litigators who have a firm grasp of their discovery obligations can protect themselves, their practices, and their clients.
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Logikcull webcast 'Discovery Malpractice Is At Your Doorstep'
- 1. Discovery Malpractice Is At Your Doorstep Friday, August 14 Jeff Bennion, Esq. Robert Hilson, Logikcull
- 2. Presenters Robert Hilson, Logikcull Jeff Bennion, Of Counsel at Estey and Bomberger
- 3. Agenda • Discovery malpractice landscape • Emerging standards of competence • Common risks • Example cases • Lessons learned • Q and A
- 4. Malpractice Landscape ! ! • Electronic data increasingly ubiquitous • Increasing complexity of tools, data • General lack of knowledge • No formal standard of care ! ! Yet… few reported malpractice cases. !
- 5. But Don’t Be Fooled Malpractice threat manifests in other ways… ! ! ! - Disgorgment of fees ! - Payment of sanctions ! - Billing disputes
- 6. Emerging Standards ! ! ! ! • ABA Model Rule 1.1 — Comment 8 “To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.” ! • California Formal Opinion No. 2015-193 “Attorney competence related to litigation generally requires, at a minimum, a basic understanding of, and facility with, issues relating to e-discovery, i.e., the discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”)”
- 7. Malpractice Trigger ! ! ! ! 1. Privilege Waiver - inadvertently disclosing privileged documents without taking reasonable steps to prevent their disclosure ! !
- 8. Example Case ! United States of America et al v. J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc. 5:06-cv-00055, C.D. Cal ! • J-M’s law firm repeatedly discloses 3,900 privileged docs to adversaries • No forceful clawback in place • Failure to supervise contract attorneys • Vendors failed to pass documents through privilege filters ! !
- 9. Lessons ! ! • FRE 502(d), the ‘get out of jail free’ card ! ! ! • Owe a duty of supervision • Make sure your vendor knows what it’s doing ! ! “The production of privileged or work-product protected documents, electronically stored information (“ESI”) or information, whether inadvertent or otherwise, is not a waiver of the privilege or protection from discovery in this case or in any other federal or state proceeding.”
- 10. Malpractice Trigger ! ! ! ! ! 2. ‘Left hand doesn’t know what right hand is doing.’ - Small mistake, unchecked, festers and multiplies - Lack of quality control - Inadvertent spoliation of data - Lax security ! ! ! ! !
- 11. Example Case ! Apple v. Samsung 5:11-cv-01846, N.D. Cal. ! • Law firm associate improperly redacts sensitive Apple agreement obtained in discovery • Uploads document to Samsung intranet • Document obtained by top Samsung executives and law firms adverse to Apple • Law firm ordered to pay monetary sanction !
- 12. Lessons ! ! ! • Bone up on the basics (and look for outside help) • Ask for protective order • Supervision and QC • Secure discovery repository ! !
- 13. Malpractice Trigger ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3. Discovery sticker shock ! ! ! ! ! ? Processing fees ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? Hosting fees User fees OCR fees TIFF fees PDF fees ECA fees Ingestion fees Ingestion fees Endorsing fees ? Cold storage fees ? Review fees ? Fee analysis fee ? ? Searching fees
- 14. Example Case! DLA Piper LLP v. Adam Victor 650374/2012, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. ! • Client and firm sue each other over billing dispute • 250,000 pages of documents produced to Victor in discovery • Those include… ! ! ! “I hear we are already 200k over our estimate — that’s Team DLA Piper!” “Now [lawyer] has random people working full time on random research projects in standard ‘churn that bill, baby!’ mode. That bill shall know no limits.” “DLA seems to love to lowball the bills and with the number of bodies being thrown at this thing it’s going to stay stupidly high….”
- 15. Lessons ! ! ! • Practice transparent billing • Defensive email writing • ‘Reasonable’ markup… ! !
- 16. Malpractice Trigger ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 4. Data breach ! ! ! ! ! Careless disposal of client records Device theft Misuse of internal security protocols
- 17. Example Case Too many to count… ! ! !
- 18. Lessons ! ! ! • Proper destruction of client files • Keep documents in secure repository • Limit use of physical media • Keep client data encrypted ! !
- 19. Malpractice Trigger ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 5. Blind reliance on your vendor ! ! !
- 20. Example Case! Peerless v. Crimson 1:11-cv-1768, N.D. Ill. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! • Defendant allows discovery to proceed “entirely through a vendor” • Plays “no part in process of obtaining requested discovery” • “Such a hands-off approach is insufficient” ! ! !
- 21. Lessons ! ! “Defendants cannot place the burden of compliance on an outside vendor and have no knowledge, or claim no control, over the process.” ! ! ! • Must be able to attest to the completeness of discovery - Rule 26(g) • Attorneys must supervise outside service providers • Identify the witness ! !
- 22. Discovery Shouldn’t Be About Fear ! • Strategic advantage • Insight into important issues • If you ‘win’ the meet-and-confer, you will win discovery ! ! !
- 23. Questions?
- 24. Join the movement. ! Trusted by the Fortune 500, AM Law 100, & The US Government 5.0 out of 5 stars. Read the reviews.