![]() In Salomon Smith Barney, the court entered a consensual protective order, under which documents to be treated as confidential could be designated as such. ![]() This is illustrated by the recent New York federal district court decision in Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. Once a document has been found in a public court file, it is probably too late to restore its confidentiality. As courts begin to accept electronic filings or digitally scan filed documents, Internet publication and access to any of your client's documents contained in public court files may not be far in the future.įinally, consider the permanence of disclosure. Documents containing your client's privileged information, trade secrets, juvenile records, medical and psychiatric records, tax, financial and investment information and even grand jury testimony could be released to the public - to your client's potential employers, competitors, and opponents in litigation.Ĭonsider further that the future is likely to bring increased access to public documents, including those in court files. And other state and federal courts in Illinois and around the country could adopt rules that could produce similar results.Ĭonsider the exposure to malpractice claims and impact on client relations - in addition to considerable potential embarrassment to both you and your client - of leaving sensitive documents in the custody of a court that has both a local rule and stated policy of opening documents filed under seal, just weeks after the case ends. Although it may come as a shock, the northern district is busy right now opening hundreds of sealed court documents and exposing them in the public record. If those documents were filed in the northern district of Illinois, they may already be opened and in the public court file for all to see. Unfortunately, this is no time for complacency. Or you may not think much about those documents at all after the final order is entered. You might feel comfortable that the information in the sealed documents will remain protected as long as you have a blanket protective order that remains in effect after the case's final disposition. You just obtained a favorable result, and the case is closed. Preserving the confidentiality of your client's sensitive documents is a serious issue, whether the client is an individual concerned about personal disclosures or a large corporation protecting valuable proprietary information.Ĭonsider a common scenario: in response to your client's concerns, you acquired a protective order and filed documents under seal in recent litigation. This article explains the northern district's policy and the local rule that makes it possible, identifies the risks of such policies, and offers concrete practice-management steps to lower those risks. Other state and federal courts could follow suit. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently adopted a policy that could cause public disclosure of documents filed under seal as recently as three months or as far back as 20 years ago.
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