Nosy Firm Loses 6 Figures For Dropbox Snooping

Nobody grows up wanting to be a lawyer so they can do discovery. Argue and wear fancy suits, sure, but sifting through what could be thousands or millions of documents is one of the parts of the job that you’d rather outsource. Unless you find out that a firm used the discovery process to secret some intel and then tried to strong arm off that knowledge in negotiations. From ABA Journal:

A trial-level judge in New York has sanctioned Robins Kaplan for “rummaging” through the Dropbox of its litigation opponent after a third-party vendor accidentally revealed the link in discovery.

Justice Joel M. Cohen ordered Robins Kaplan and its client to pay nearly $156,000 for “surreptitiously and repeatedly” accessing the files of their litigation opponent, the Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund. The sanction covers the Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund’s cost in bringing the sanction motion.

…

Cohen called the review of Pursuit’s documents “something more akin to corporate espionage.” Instead of stopping the review and making sure that its client did the same, Robins Kaplan “went on the offensive and threatened to use the information gleaned during its clandestine review for litigation advantage,” Cohen said.

I know you all come here for hot takes from some of the sharpest legal minds in reporting, but it doesn’t take a law degree to know that counsel messed up here. Before we even get to how wrong it is to try and play hardball with information you stole, I want to draw attention to a very important tenet of not being an asshole that applies as much to legally sensitive Dropbox data as it does to a friend showing you a picture on their phone — you only look at what you are supposed to! No swiping to the left or the right, no checking other folders when the other person isn’t looking; stay in your lane. Very bad form overall.

Now, is $156K a bit harsh for snooping around in folders you knew you had no business sticking your clicker in? Maybe, but I’m sure that the heft of the fine will inspire some spillover hesitation for other parties with access to unintended information. In addition to the financial setback, there could be other consequences for the nosy firm:

Cohen also ordered the return of documents that were not subsequently produced by the Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund in discovery. And he warned that he could restrict future discovery requests by Robins Kaplan if they are based on the improper review of the Dropbox files.

This probably won’t be the end of the matter, though. Gabriel Berg, a partner at Robins Kaplan, wants to appeal the decision. He’s looking to take a “no harm no foul” approach — all of the documents that were referenced by the firm were inevitably produced in discovery.

Unauthorized ‘Rummaging’ Through Opponent’s Dropbox Leads To Sanction Against This Law Firm [ABA Journal]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.