H. Christopher Boehning

December 04, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Recent revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have focused on the discovery and production of electronically stored information. As alluring as the promise of discovering a smoking-gun e-mail is, such an e-mail only becomes useful in litigation if it can surmount a series of evidentiary hurdles that all too often receive only scant attention and, in many cases, are overlooked entirely.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

13 minute read

February 03, 2011 | Legaltech News

During the N.Y. Bar Association's annual meeting, a panel of nine judges, including noted e-discovery theorists, considered two EDD topics: preservation and cooperation. The focus was on the possible addition to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure of a true preservation rule.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

11 minute read

October 27, 2009 | New York Law Journal

H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal, partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, write that a major goal of the 2006 amendments to Rules 16 and 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and new Federal Rule of Evidence 502 was to reduce the cost of electronic discovery by minimizing pre-production privilege review of electronically stored information through the endorsement of "quick peek" and "clawback" agreements in those cases were the parties jointly agreed to such procedures. However, the recent decision in Spieker v. Quest Cherokee demonstrates that not all courts will interpret these provisions in light of the stated goals of the new rules.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

11 minute read

March 02, 2007 | Legaltech News

Still dragging your feet on learning electronic data discovery? H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal, litigation partners at Paul Weiss, examine an opinion that left plaintiffs facing spoliation sanctions, and offer six ways to steer clear of the road to EDD perdition.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

11 minute read

July 01, 2009 | Legaltech News

H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal, partners at Paul Weiss, advise that companies that use social networks should ensure they are prepared to preserve, collect and produce social networking data for cases and that their electronic communications policies cover social networking.

By H. Christopher Boehning And Daniel J. Toal

9 minute read

April 06, 2010 | New York Law Journal

H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal, partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, analyze a recent decision where, much like Judge Scheindlin in Pension Committee, Judge Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of the duty to preserve evidence, conduct that breaches that duty, the level of culpability necessary to impose sanctions, and the standard that must be satisfied to justify a spoliation instruction. Unlike Judge Scheindlin, however, Judge Rosenthal did not seek to establish bright-line rules.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

13 minute read

September 06, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Recent headlines have highlighted the blurring divide between professional and private e-mail accounts.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

13 minute read

December 22, 2009 | New York Law Journal

H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal, partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, write: The production of electronically stored information (ESI) in native file format continues to be a topic of interest for litigators. For those (and there are many) still confused, help may be on the way. Several recent decisions indicate that a consistent body of guidance is developing in the case law on this topic. For the uninitiated, a document's "native format" is the "default format of a file." Files in their native format are usually read using the software program originally used to create them, as opposed to a generic reader, such as Adobe Acrobat, that is used to access files once they have been converted from their native format into another form, such as PDF files.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J.Toal

15 minute read

February 01, 2011 | New York Law Journal

H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal, partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, write: As regular riders on the e-discovery lecture circuit, we took a busman's holiday last week to attend an all-star panel hosted by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section during the New York State Bar Association's annual meeting. It was no surprise that preservation challenges dominated the discussion.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

11 minute read

June 24, 2008 | Law.com

Slowly but surely, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm is writing a treatise on electronic discovery. In his latest ruling, Grimm revisits privilege waiver issues and wades into the debate over search methodologies. In the end, his privilege ruling is no surprise and his comments on search methodologies will do little to calm those who are concerned that recent decisions could require litigants to hire experts to defend their chosen search methodology, say attorneys H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal.

By H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal

12 minute read