Extract from Isha Marathe’s article “E-Discovery Tools Could Better Prevent Inadvertent Disclosures—But Are They to Blame?”
When the attorneys for Infowars owner Alex Jones mistakenly sent the privileged contents of their client’s entire cellphone to opposing counsel last week, it shook the legal and e-discovery world.
A general question ran across many minds: How could someone make such a grave mistake? But once the dust settled, e-discovery professionals chimed in with a common thought: This isn’t exactly new. Inadvertent disclosures happen all the time.
To be sure, the Jones incident might be especially shocking for all that went wrong to reveal so much unnecessary information during the trial.
Still, accidental disclosures are as old as discovery itself. Of course, with the transition to electronic discovery, matters may get a little more complicated, allowing for massive amounts of information to be sent in the blink of an eye, whether you intend for it or not. Given the risks, many e-discovery professionals wonder if the tech tools used while transferring information could be better formulated to prevent such mistakes or if a human error will ultimately be no match for any solution.
Whichever position they may lean on, however, all experts agreed that to truly combat inadvertent disclosures during e-discovery, the human processes and tech have to be programmed to keep a check on each other.
