DON’T DELAY - Over the past six months, federal judges across the country have had strong words and, in some cases, even stronger sanctions for litigants whose antics have stalled litigation at a time when judicial resources are stretched paper thin and courts are struggling to clear backlogged dockets. Discovery delays are, of course, often calculated moves, typically by the defense. They’re also calculated risks, as the possibility of ticking off a judge by needlessly prolonging a case has always been a potential pitfall of such strategies. For a long time, that was a gamble most litigants felt comfortable taking. But a string of recent cases seems to indicate that might be changing. In fact, as we examine in the latest Law.com Litigation Trendspotter column, right now may be the worst time in history to try a judge’s patience with misconduct, unresponsiveness and petty squabbling during the evidence-gathering stage of a case. While the jurists who have come down hard on this type of behavior recently have not explicitly cited pandemic backlogs as exacerbating their frustration, the underlying message has been clear: we don’t have time for these shenanigans.
INTEGRATION FRUSTRATION - As law firms and legal departments become mature legal tech users, they’re running into a new challenge, Law.com’s Rhys Dipshan writes in this week’s Law.com Barometer newsletter. In the not-too-distant past, many were solely focused on figuring out what tech to buy. Now, it is all about how to connect the various platforms they’ve recently procured. Integrating legal tech platforms is essential for data sharing and enabling more efficient workflows. Unfortunately, it’s also a huge pain—and comes with significant risks. What’s more, Dipshan writes, many legal teams have made the task harder for themselves by not buying tech with integration in mind. To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.
