Electronic Discovery and the Internet of Things -An Introduction

Washington, D.C. partner, Jay Brudz was part of a panel discussion during EDDE Annual PreRSA Conference Meeting entitled "Electronic Discovery and the Internet of Things -An Introduction" held on April 19, 2015.

Competence to practice law (ABA Model Rule.1.1) is perhaps the overarching ethical obligation of any attorney in practice today. Having, and maintaining competency in the age of nearly overnight disruptive advances in technology are changing the nature of legal practice in general, and litigation in particular. The field of electronic discovery, once relegated to document reviewers and paralegals, now requires a minimum competency in technology without which an attorney will likely fail to adequately represent an client’s interests. The Internet of Things, once thought of as “wearable technology” such as Google glasses, now includes medical devices such as implantable heart monitors and pacemakers, GPS systems, automobiles, utility meters, health monitoring devices, household appliance management, mobile computing devices and much more. Where these connected, always-on devices, or their electronically stored information (ESI) become relevant evidence, or could lead to relevant evidence in litigation, they raise the competency bar for attorneys who, on behalf of their clients, request or produce such information. An attorney’s competency requirement in these instances must be expanded to include having familiarity with the collection, preservation, format, and information ecosystem. This session (one hour ethics CLE is expected) will discuss the competency requirements now facing attorneys dealing with these expanded technologies.