All Things Investigations: Episode 37 – Privileges in Document Production with Mike Huneke
Sitting with the C-Suite: eDiscovery Observations – Historical Lookback to 1990s and 2000s
So you are ready to divorce...what is the process?
Sitting with the C-Suite: In-House Counsel - Leveraging Text Classification to Problem Solve
Video | Tips for Managing the Preservation of Mobile Device Data
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Government Investigative Demands
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)... *Liability and Data Breach Sold Separately
The purpose of a privilege log is to provide sufficient information for the recipient of the log to determine whether the withheld information is, at least on its face, privileged. In short: “Trust, but verify.” See,...more
Every court seems to require litigants to log documents they withhold based on privilege or work product claims. Perhaps not surprisingly, hardly any log goes unchallenged by the adversary. Most of these disputes eventually...more
In federal courts, it is nearly impossible to successfully file an interlocutory appeal of a trial court’s order requiring production of privileged documents — despite the obvious “cat out of the bag” nature of such rulings....more
Aggressive plaintiffs sometimes try to generate a “side show” by challenging corporate defendants’ discovery responses (usually their document productions). Although federal courts have thankfully moved in the direction of...more
Last week’s Privilege Point described one court’s incredible requirement that litigants identify everyone who learned of a withheld document’s content — even if they were not shown as a recipient....more
This Sidley Update addresses the following recent developments and court decisions involving e-discovery issues: 1. an order from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granting a motion to compel...more
[Editor’s Note: This article has been republished with permission. It was originally published December 20, 2023 on the eDiscovery Assistant Blog] In Episode 127, on the ACEDS and eDiscovery Assistant #CaseoftheWeek, Kelly...more
Default judgments as a sanction for discovery violations are rare. Egregious conduct and failure to comply with multiple court orders usually precede the entry of a default judgment. Originally published in The Daily...more
Federal and state rules of civil procedure are intended to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action. However, one activity that can thwart that goal is discovery, because the discovery process is...more
The difficulty of handling privilege disputes can be especially pronounced in cases involving a prolonged discovery period and large corporate defendants with different document custodians. When a party chooses to withhold...more
The last several Privilege Points have emphasized the different waiver implications of disclosing privileged communications and protected work product. For the most part, the distinctions rest on the very different societal...more
Courts take differing positions on the "client's" identity in the government setting. Among other things, such differing positions might affect the waiver implications of one government agency disclosing its privileged...more
Under some arrangements, major shareholders appoint directors to companies those shareholders partially own. Does such a company waive its privilege by disclosing its privileged documents to a designating shareholder's...more
The last two Privilege Points (Part I and Part II) addressed the Supreme Court's abandoned attempt to address the abstract "primary purpose" versus "one significant purpose" privilege standard in the absence of specific facts...more
Last week's Privilege Point described the Supreme Court's failure to decide between a "primary purpose" and a "one significant purpose" privilege standard. Everyone wonders why the Supreme Court dropped the case. The best...more
In federal court and in state courts following the same approach, Fed R. Evid. 502(b) sometimes allows claw backs if a privileged document's production was "inadvertent." That term could have several meanings — ranging from a...more
Last week's Privilege Point described courts' various standards for their in camera review of withheld documents. The vast majority recognizes the trial court's discretion, but some courts always conduct an in camera review...more
Attorney-client privilege protection depends on content, and some work product claims also depend in part on content. Because a litigant's privilege log obviously does not disclose withheld documents' content, the adversary...more
Courts' application of the attorney-client privilege to government lawyers' communications reflects the tension between the public interest in government transparency and the societal benefit of public officials and employees...more
The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in In re Grand Jury to resolve a circuit split regarding what standard governs the application of the attorney-client privilege to dual-purpose communications, that is...more
The work product doctrine has been described by many courts as "intensely practical." Several decisions highlight this understandable adjective, and explicitly provide useful guidance for lawyers representing litigants and...more
Given the vulnerability of electronic communications to intrusion, lawyers sometimes obtain and may be tempted to use documents that their clients have inappropriately obtained from an adversary – even privileged documents....more
Former President Donald J. Trump filed a motion to appoint a Special Master to review the material seized by the FBI from Mar-A-Lago. The stated purpose of the review by the Special Master is to remove nonrelevant and...more
At the climax of one of the most watched trials that took place in 2022, conspiracy theorist and media personality Alex Jones breathed life into the infamous fictional lawyer once more on August 3, 2022 when confronted with...more
Last week's Privilege Point described a New York state court's unsurprising articulation of the nearly universally-applied "primary purpose" standard, and listing of the usual type of documents that fail to satisfy that...more