Claim of attorney work product will not support disorganized electronic data dump
January 21st, 2009 | By Steve PuiszisSecurities and Exchange Comm’n v. Collins & Aikman Corp., 2009 WL 94311 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 13, 2008)
Did you know that the art and science of hiding messages or information within other forms of data is called is called steganography. Wikipedia describes it as “a form of security through obscurity.” In today’s digital world, it includes the concealment of electronic information within other computer files.
Many lawyers practice steganography without knowing its name. Frequently they attempt to bury critical or key documents in a voluminous document production in response to an opponent’s discovery requests. The potential for this type of “gamesmanship” has grown with the advent of ediscovery. Collins addressed and rejected several arguments commonly used to justify this type of steganographic discovery response. The Collins decision was written by District Judge Shira Scheindlin who authored the Zubulake decisions which addressed litigation-hold requirements. So on several different levels, the decision merits your attention.
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