Articles
Federal Rule 502 Corrects Gap In FRCP 26(b) But Companies Still Need To Deliver On Reasonable eDiscovery Standards
November 19, 2008
Click Here To Download:•Guest Column: Federal Rule 502 Corrects Gap In FRCP 26(b) But Companies Still Need To Deliver On Reasonable eDiscovery Standards
By Howard Haile, DCIG LLC
When President Bush signed S.2550 into law on September 19, 2008, the Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 502 went into immediate effect. This law brought much needed clarity to section 26(b) (5) (b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). When the FRCP was amended in 2006, the addition of 26(b) (5) (b) was recognition that the sheer volume of documents in an eDiscovery request would lend itself to the accidental disclosures of data that could jeopardize the attorney-client privilege. Attorney-Client privilege is quite simply a court recognized protection of communications between a client and their attorney. This protection is designed to allow open and honest communication between clients and attorney's so as to aid in the legal process.
A recent example of this occurring was a May 2008 ruling in Maryland that an accidental disclosure of 165 documents during the eDiscovery process had waived attorney-client privilege for a company embroiled in an intellectual property infringement case. Although 26(b) (5) (b) was a welcome attempt to bring a standard response to the issue of accidental disclosure, it has not held up in court and FRE 502 was born.
Click Here To Download:•Guest Column: Federal Rule 502 Corrects Gap In FRCP 26(b) But Companies Still Need To Deliver On Reasonable eDiscovery Standards
