Future Law Office 2020, a report issued by Robert Half, contains a survey in which 350 attorneys were asked which issue would have the biggest impact on the practice of law in the next five years. Emerging
Emerging technologies was the issue that garnered the most votes. Furthermore, 44 percent of the respondents identified eDiscovery as the main issue driving legal departments to work more closely with IT specialists.
Is your law firm up to speed on technology and eDiscovery? Emerging technologies are not only a trend, but also are becoming a matter of competence. In fact, recent sanctions imposed on the Defendants and their attorneys in a case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California reminds us of the legal implications of poor handling of eDiscovery. HM Elecs., Inc. v. R.F. Techs., Inc., 2015 BL 254876, No. 3:12-cv-02884-BAS-MDD (S.D. Cal. Aug. 7, 2015).
In HM Elecs. Inc, the Plaintiff—a manufacturer of drive-thru headset systems—brought forth various claims against the Defendant—a repairmen of drive-thru headset systems—for trademark infringement and unfair competition and interference by the Defendant. During the course of the case, several discovery disputes arose, most notably related to the failure to properly and timely produce documents as required. The Plaintiff filed a joint motion alleging that Defendant intentionally withheld and destroyed highly relevant electronically stored documents (“ESI”), among other allegations.
The Court granted the Plaintiff’s request for reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred as a result of Defendants’ eDiscovery misconduct pursuant to Rules 26(g)(3) and 37, and for not paying close enough attention to the misconduct of its clients. The court sanctioned discovery practices by the Defendant such as (1) signing certifications of discovery stating that certain documents didn’t exist, even though they did; (2) attorneys did not property craft and implement a litigation hold; (3) emails were sent to employees instructing them to destroy relevant documents; (4) massive amounts of data withheld by the used of limited search terms; and (5) failure to produce more than 375,000 pages of electronically stored information (“ESI”) until after close of discovery due to vendor error.
Thus, failure to be proactive in acquiring competence in emerging technologies and specifically in eDiscovery may result in a costly lesson that not only takes a financial toll on a lawyer and his client, but also may tarnish the reputation and career of the lawyer. In other words, being a technophobe is becoming risky business for lawyers practicing law in the digital age.
To read the survey, click here.
To read the opinion, click here.
