Ethics of Electronic Discovery – Part One

http://ow.ly/9sgT3

An article by Ralph Losey on his blog e-DiscoveryTeam®.

The article discusses ethical issues that are related to eDiscovery.  The article refers to a prior article from 2009 by Mr. Losey, "Lawyers Behaving Badly: Understanding Unprofessional Conduct in e-Discovery, 60 Mercer L. Rev. 983 (Spring 2009)".  A link to the referenced article is provided in Mr. Losey's current article.

The article looks at four factors that are vital to attorney ethics, as the topic pertains to eDiscovery, "There are four fundamental forces at work in e-discovery, which when considered together, explain most attorney misconduct:

(1) a general lack of technological sophistication,
(2) over-zealous attorney conduct,
(3) a lack of development of professional duties as an advocate, and
(4) legal incompetence."

The article also provides a discussion of 6 ABA rules that pertain to eDiscovery ethics:

"To summarize our review of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, six rules seems especially important to the field of e-discovery:
Rule 1.1 – Competence
Rule 1.3 – Diligence
Rule 1.6 – Confidentiality
Rule 3.2 – Expediting Litigation
Rule 3.3 – Candor Toward the Tribunal
Rule 3.4 – Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel"

The article also provides various illustrations that shed further light on the author's points, such as the diagram below: