Efficient, Effective Advocacy in the "Computer Age" Demands the Marriage of the Work Product Doctrine to Computerized Litigation Databases

Authors

• Cecilee Price-Huish

Abstract

The attorney-client relationship is one that often evolves over years of legal representation, which often results in the creation of close working relationships and the development of mutual trust. It is not unusual for an attorney or law firm to represent a client for a number of years, fulfilling many different functions as circumstances require. Within this context, a lawyer's roles may include counselor, mediator and litigator. In the age of the information superhighway, where business is increasingly conducted via computerized systems, it is commonplace for an attorney, during the course of lengthy legal representation, to rely heavily on computerized support systems to effectively create, store, and order important information, especially when preparing for litigation. By relying on computerized litigation support systems, attorneys are better able to organize massive amounts of information and to "separate the wheat from the chaff." Despite the broad and growing use of computers in the legal profession, the federal courts have yet to reach a consensus in delineating the scope for which opinion work product doctrine should be applied in protecting computerized litigation support system databases and indices.

Recommended Citation

Cecilee Price-Huish, Efficient, Effective Advocacy in the "Computer Age" Demands the Marriage of the Work Product Doctrine to Computerized Litigation Databases, 1 Computer L. Rev. & Tech. J. 43 (1997)