Yesterday, John and I had the pleasure of presenting a CLE on Ethics and E-Discovery to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. In the raft of kind remarks proffered after the seminar, it struck us both that the word "scared" kept cropping up.
No doubt it is scary to hear that lawyers (not just clients) are being sanctioned by the courts for incompetence or malfeasance relating to electronic discovery. But it is also true that lawyers are just beginning to realize how much they don't know about such things as litigation holds, preservation notices, search methodologies, sampling, production formats, etc. While we try to educate and not to scare, I guess we understand why the education, in and of itself, can be pretty frightening to attorneys unaccustomed to electronic discovery.
The crown jewel of unusual compliments came when we encountered a lawyer coming out of the rest room. After telling us how much he enjoyed our "scary" presentation, he concluded by saying "That's why I was in the bathroom - I had to change my underwear."
That's one we'll always remember. :-)
E-mail: snelson@senseient.com Phone: 703-359-0700
