'Where Does a Wise Man Hide a Leaf?': Modernising the Laws of Disclosure in the Information Age

• Author: Denise Wong
• Pages: 206-213

JICLT

Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology

Vol.9, No.4 (2014)

206

Where Does a Wise Man Hide a Leaf?1:

Modernising the Laws of Disclosure in the

Information Age

Denise H. Wong

Assistant Professor of Law

Singapore Management University

denisewonghw@smu.edu.sg

Abstract. Litigation practice has been significantly altered by the advent of

electronically stored information in daily corporate life. It is argued that the laws of

disclosure should be updated to recognise that technology-assisted document review via

keyword searching is crucial in ensuring that the costs of litigation are well managed. In

order to facilitate keyword searching, a new legal concept of accuracy in the selection of

keywords should be introduced into the laws of disclosure. At the same time, despite the

adversarial nature of litigation, it is imperative that parties approach electronic disclosure

with a spirit of collaboration in order to achieve collective savings of time and resources.

Keywords. Litigation, Disclosure, Keyword Searches, Electronic Documents, Technology

1. Introduction

“The interests of efficiency require tha t a case gets to trial a s soon as

possible with the best set of documents that can be a massed to assist

in arriving at a decision on the merits… Efficiency seeks to cull t he

volume of documents to be disclosed and it employs the scythe of

proportiona lity and economy... The Holy Grail is to ar rive at a set of

documents of the right size containing all relevant documents without

expenditure of disproportionate costs.”

Global Yellow Pages Limited v Promedia

Directories Private Limited [2013] 3 SLR 758

A revolution has taken place in the world of litigation. The advent of the Internet and email technology

have heralded a sea change in commercial habits, particularly in the manner in which people

communicate and in the volume of electronic documents being produced and stored as part of daily

corporate life. The mass of information that has been accumulated causes significant di fficulties when

the data has to be retrieved, sorted and reviewed as and when a di spute arises. This problem is

exacerbated by gl obalization and the cross-storage of corporate information across jurisdictions. This

1 Nichia Corporation v Argos Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 741 (CA) (Jacob LJ).