COURSE DESCRIPTION
Once a niche form of communication, often used only by family and friends, text messaging has become mainstream. Clients generate virtual reams of text message text message data when they message with business partners, vendors, employees, and the public. This is a rich vein of electronically stored information that is potentially discoverable in formal litigation or pre-litigation. Because texting is so convenient, casual and almost reflexive, the caution clients exercise in other forms of communication are often disregarded when texting, including when they text with their lawyers. The risks of texting messaging are everywhere and substantial. This program will provide you with a real-world guide to obtaining text messages, the risks of discovery in litigation, and related issues.
- Obtaining text messages – working with mobile carriers
- Timing – how long are texts kept and in what form?
- Discovery issues – obtaining texts from parties or other sources
- Issues related to encrypted messaging services
- How strategies differ for plaintiffs and defendants
Speaker:
Stanley E. Woodward Jr. is counsel in the Washington, D.C office of Akin Gump, LLP, where he has a broad civil litigation and white collar criminal defense practice. He also conducts internal corporate investigations. He serves as an adjunct professor of law at Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, where he teaches pre-trial litigation and employment law. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk to Judge Vanessa Ruiz of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and Judges Joan Zeldon and Judge Rufus King III of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Mr. Woodward earned his B.A., cum laude, and his M.S., magna cum laude, from American University, and his J.D., cum laude, from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.