Had a call this morning from a lawyer at a reputable mid-market firm who is keen to get his e-discovery committee off the ground with some policies and procedures. He knows that by January he and his Toronto colleagues will have to prepare discovery plans and deal with the realities of e-discovery. However, he is meeting real resistance from certain partners. “Our only responsibility”, they say, “is to tell our clients they have to comply with the Rules. We don’t have to tell them how!” I think there’s a confusion here between (a) meddling in your client’s internal IT processes (which you are not qualified to do) and (b) providing guidance to your clients on legal and procedural matters which may end up being determinative of their case! Even if it isn’t a matter of professional competence (which I think it is) wouldn’t it be a matter of good customer service?
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