Threading Is the New Global De-Duplication

Global de-duplication has become the industry standard in e-discovery. With the amount of data generated and processed these days, the failure to de-duplicate globally may even constitute a discovery abuse.

Another tool, email “threading,” has been in use for some time, but now it too is becoming the industry standard.

The trend is to review and produce only the most inclusive email string. E-discovery platforms accomplish this by processing emails with threading tools that identify the most recent strings, and exclude all the smaller pieces. If an email branches off into a separate thread, then the technology will include that thread for review. However, if an email has an attachment and subsequent replies omit that attachment, then the original email with the attachment would also be included for review.

Counsel who object to the technology because they do not understand how it works risk an ethical violation. Recently revised comment 8 to ABA Model Rule 1 requires competence in technology.

California has gone further by issuing a Proposed Formal Opinion regarding e-discovery, which says that lack of competence in e-discovery issues “may lead to an ethical violation of an attorney’s duty of confidentiality.”

In the near future, email threading will be as much of an industry standard as global de-duplication. When this occurs, counsel will no longer need to discuss the production of inclusive threads. Counsel should prepare for this development by learning how to use the technology.