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Discovery Document Productions Privileged Documents

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

Privilege Logs, Null Sets, Search Strings, and Number of Custodians in One Decision

The decision in Cook v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 2024 WL 251942 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 21, 2025), packs a lot into very few pages.  In two instances, where Meta had offered a compromise solution, the court held Meta to that offer....more

McGuireWoods LLP

Court Adopts Variation of Bizarre Privilege Principle

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Several courts have adopted a nonsensical principle that, as one court put it, “[w]hen documents are prepared for dissemination to third parties, neither the document itself, nor preliminary drafts, are entitled to immunity.”...more

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

November’s Notable Cases and Events in E-Discovery

[Editor’s Note: This article was first published December 4, 2024, and EDRM is grateful to Tom Paskowitz of our Trusted Partner, Sidley, for permission to republish. The opinions and positions are those of the author.]...more

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

The Standard for In Camera Review of Assertedly Privileged Documents

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

McGuireWoods LLP

The Consequences of a Bad or Tardy Privilege Log

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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

McGuireWoods LLP

The Worrisome Nature of “Discovery About Discovery”

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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

McGuireWoods LLP

Courts Disagree About Privilege Log Requirements: Part II

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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

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

March’s Notable Cases and Events in E-Discovery

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

Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, LLP

Taking Discovery Obligations Seriously

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

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

Using Special Masters and Discovery Mediators to Avoid and Resolve Discovery Disputes

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

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Reducing Costs of Privilege Review and Privilege Logging

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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

McGuireWoods LLP

Supreme Court Fumbles Attempt to Define Privilege Standard: Part II

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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

McGuireWoods LLP

Analyzing an Inadvertent Production’s Waiver Impact: What Does the “Inadvertent” Element Mean?

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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

McGuireWoods LLP

In Camera Reviews’ Process and Downside: Part I

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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

Epstein Becker & Green

Supreme Court to Review Scope of Attorney-Client Privilege for “Dual Purpose” Communications

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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

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

[Webinar] Ripped From the Headlines: Mystery of the Mar-a-Lago Docs & the Special Master - September 7th, 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm ET

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

Kilpatrick

Electronic Production Checklist

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It’s a Friday afternoon and your weekend is about to start…and yes - you guessed it…a last minute production request comes in and your plans are no longer the same. Because of court orders and agreed-upon deadlines,...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Stealthy Rule 612 Risk to Privilege Protection

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Lawyers preparing their clients and others for deposition or trial testimony frequently show them documents. Courts disagree about whether such lawyers can withhold from the adversary those documents' identity. The majority...more

Kilpatrick

The Attorney Client Privilege: The Corporate Communication Conundrum – PART ONE

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“But in-house counsel was copied on the email, isn’t that enough?” When a business faces the prospect of producing documents in litigation, determining which documents are protected by the attorney-client privilege and...more

McGuireWoods LLP

SDNY Correctly Protects Preliminary Drafts of Publicly Disseminated Documents

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Not surprisingly, attorney-client privilege protection evaporates once a client and her lawyer agree that a document can be disclosed to outsiders -- even before it is disclosed. But some courts have inexplicably applied this...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Sending Pre-Existing Historical Documents to a Lawyer Does Not Make Them Privileged, But…

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It should go without saying that sending pre-existing historical documents to a lawyer does not automatically immunize them from discovery as privileged. If it did, clients could box up all of their files and send them to a...more

McGuireWoods LLP

What Factors Do Courts Consider When Analyzing the Waiver Implications of Accidentally Producing Privileged Documents?

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Courts assessing the waiver implications of a litigant accidentally producing privileged documents normally look at several factors: (1) Did the producing party adopt a reasonable protocol for identifying and withholding...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Can The Content Of My Privilege Log Jeopardize My Privilege Claim?

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Rule 26(b)(5) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that, when a party withholds information otherwise discoverable by claiming the information is privileged or subject to protection as trial-preparation material,...more

White & Case LLP

No third party production: FRC loses its demand for Sports Direct's privileged documents

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Court battles with regulators over privilege and the disclosure of documents are becoming increasingly common. However, it is not often that you see a regulator seeking to obtain the privileged documents of a third party who...more

Jones Day

Trouble in Paradise: No Privilege for Stolen Documents

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The Situation: In an era of sophisticated cyberattacks and data leaks, questions have been raised over whether the doctrine of legal professional privilege ("LPP") should be extended to provide clients with a legal right to...more

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