WP29’s comments on the EU Commission’s Privacy Shield Decision: again not an endorsement

On July 26, 2016, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29) released a statement on the decision of the European Commission on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. The statement refers to the Privacy Shield approved by the European Commission on July 12, 2016 (see here) and addresses the changes brought to the text of the document after […]

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Scanned copy of signed retainer agreement must be retained for seven years if the original is destroyed – NYSBA Opinion 1077

On December 9, 2015, the Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York State Bar issued Opinion 1077 providing guidelines on how law firms should keep record of retainer and compensation agreements with clients. A law firm with “a high volume practice” that receives “thousands of signed retainer agreements” every year asked whether they “may […]

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Personal e-mail accounts discoverable in work-related claims, federal court held

On June 14, 2016, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, held that personal email accounts may be searched with reference to a work-related dispute. In this civil rights case, Plaintiff motioned to compel Defendants to “search for and produce certain documents from their personal computers and email accounts.” Plaintiff pointed […]

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Discovery can be used only for pled claims or defenses

On May 23, 2016, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that “just as a plaintiff may not take discovery regarding unpled claims, so a defendant is precluded from seeking discovery concerning unpled defenses”. In this intellectual property dispute, Defendants moved – among other requests – for an order […]

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In discovery, you cannot simply allege burdensomeness: you must detail the reasons and make a good faith effort to comply with discovery request

On June 24, 2016, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, determined that “a party cannot simply claim ignorance in order to avoid producing documents that are relevant to an opposing party’s claim or defense”. Plaintiff FDIC is the receiver of AmTrust while Defendant Ark-La-Tex is engaged in the […]

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Bermuda passes bill to protect personal information

On July 1, 2016, the Bermuda House of Assembly passed the Personal Information Protection Bill (PIPA). PIPA is a “milestone in the history of human rights in Bermuda”. The Bill provides Bermuda residents with the right to have their personal information protected. It applies to all organizations, businesses and the government that process personal information, both […]

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In a low-dollar-value civil rights suit, public value of accessing ESI might supersede monetary burden, federal court holds

On July 21, 2016, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, determined that in a low-dollar-value civil rights suit, the public value of allowing the opportunity to access relevant information far outweighs the asserted cost to retrieve such data. In this employment discrimination case, the Parties disagreed over “whether […]

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North Carolina legislates that providing blank legal documents is not the practice of law but builds in consumer protection

On June 30, 2016, Ch. SL 2016-60, an amendment was added to modify North Carolina’s definition of “practice of law” (§ 84-2.2) in order to allow website providers – such as Legal Zoom – to offer interactive legal documents based on consumers’ answers to legal questions. Now the “practice of law” does not include websites offering this […]

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Former employee who used a colleague’s password to access employer’s data convicted

On July 5, 2016, the Ninth Circuit  affirmed a conviction for “knowingly and with intent to defraud accessing a protected computer “without authorization”. The former employee had his computer access credentials revoked and used the login credentials of a current employee to gain access to data owned by the former employer. The court found the […]

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