If you’re a legal tech nerd like me, you’ve probably heard about the the tech fail by Paul Manafort’s lawyers in the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. The takeaway for legal tech? There’s a big difference between knowing one’s duty and knowing how to carry it out. As it relates to the duty of technological competence, we have the ability to evaluate not just whether someone knows their duty but how to carry it out. Why aren’t we using it?

But first, a few key asides: There’s really interesting intrigue around the failed Manafort redactions. First, it appears that Manafort’s legal team has properly redacted documents in the past (see the answer from Matthew Bohrer). Note further that Manafort’s team was redacting the document not to protect Manafort but, effectively, as a courtesy to Mueller so that the Mueller investigation could continue to keep its investigations confidential. You can go down the rabbit hole on why the redactions in the first place or why Manafort’s counsel might have intentionally done a bad job at redacting. The takeaway: before my legal tech friends and I pile on Manafort’s lawyers calling them “crazy” because they don’t understand how to redact, it may just be that they are crazy like foxes. Crazy tech-savvy foxes.

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