Hate is a strong word. But when it comes to describing my feelings about privilege logs, other words fall short.

It wasn't always this way. I used to think of privilege logs with benign indifference—a necessary, albeit tedious, chore for protecting the privilege in federal proceedings. (The Georgia Civil Practice Act does not expressly require privilege logs, although some courts impose the obligation to produce them.) But with e-discovery, and the ever-increasing amounts of data that need to be collected and reviewed, I realize now that privilege logs—at least the traditional ones—are a tremendous waste of time and money.

By “traditional privilege log,” I'm referring to one that consists of a table with a row of data for each withheld document, typically including the document's custodian, the author, the recipients, the date, the general subject matter, and the basis for privilege.