Unless you are a Luddite, you have probably used track changes and electronic comments to collaborate on a Word document with a client or coworker. These features make working together easy, but they are probably not something you would want the rest of the world to see. Unbeknownst to many lawyers, however, this information can easily be seen by the rest of the world if you do not take extra steps to clean up the document you have been working on before you send it out into the world.
The background information that is hidden in documents—information like authors, date of creation, edits and comments—is called metadata. As you can imagine, this information can be quite damning in the hands of an adversary. Also known as “digital discovery.” the use of metadata in litigation is a game changer. As just one example, lawyers successfully utilized metadata in the litigation surrounding Enron.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
