(updated) I'll be presenting at the U.S. Open golf tournament today. The topic is ethics and electronic discovery. My thesis is that lawyers need to adapt in two ways in the age of electronic discovery:
- Better understand technology, because evidence today is likely to be in electronic form. (the duty of Competence)
- De-emphasize the adversarial duties of Diligence and Confidentiality and re-emphasize the cooperative duties to Expedite Litigation, Candor Toward the Tribunal, and Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel.
(cross-posted at California E-Discovery Law)
Update: Monica Bay over at EDD Update (Electronic data discovery news and analysis) and The Common Scold read my post and writes: "OK, I guess I'm clueless but what's the nexis between golf and EDD? Perhaps he'll jump into the comments and 'splain it all to us." My attempt at an explanation in comments over at her sites here and here.