Legal Tech Series: What are risks involved with electronic documents? (Cautionary Tale)

Electronic documents provide a lot of convenience for attorneys; this new process is certainly better than the paper-only system of years past. But, some special risks come along with the convenience. To understand those risks, consider the following cautionary tale:

Angela Turiano was an attorney for Wells Fargo, who had been brought into a civil dispute on a third-party discovery subpoena. Turiano used an e-discovery software that she was unfamiliar with to send over the requested documents. After electronically sending the documents over to the parties, she realized that she failed to redact billions of dollar's worth of confidential information about the bank's wealthy clients. Making matters worse, the information was sent to the New York Times, revealing her mistake to the world.

In a later briefing, she said this happened because: (1) she thought she reviewed the entirety of the documents when the software displayed the first 10,000 page; (2) she thought the e-discovery vendor was going to apply the redactions; and (3) she miscoded the documents during her review.

How can you avoid similar mistakes when working with electronic documents? To put it simply: you need to understand the softwares we are working with. Each of her excuses show that she misunderstood how the e-discovery process worked. So, to avoid making the same mistakes, you should always ask questions and review your documents in detail when working with an unfamiliar legal software.

But don't just take my word for it! Check out my references below:

• https://abovethelaw.com/2017/07/this-is-every-lawyers-worst-discovery-nightmare/

• https://www.l2insuranceagency.com/blog/attorney-malpracticeattorney-error-releases-50000-wells-fargo-clients-confidential-data-files.aspx

Disclaimer:

The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only, and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice from The Legal Worker or the individual author, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this Post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s jurisdiction.