Lawyer sentenced for instructing client to destroy data

It seems even lawyers have their day in court.

In a timely reminder of the risks involved in destroying electronic evidence, an Australian lawyer has been handed a 12 month suspended sentence for instructing a client to get rid of his home computer and files during a government corruption investigation.

The 20 year old attorney pleaded guilty after admitting to telling his client’s wife and then later his client to get rid of their home computer records before Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) investigators arrived. CCC investigators are said to have found wiping software on the computer.

His client, a building coordinator in Perth, was being investigated by the CCC in 2010 for allegedly handing work to contractors who offered kickbacks.

The young attorney was also fined $10,000 for giving misleading testimony during a 2010 hearing, when he denied instructing his client to get rid of his computer files when questioned by CCC investigators. A phone conversation between the attorney and his client – recorded without his knowledge – was then played at the hearing.

ACEDS reports the case highlights  a growing global trend of intolerance towards failure to preserve data. Australia has taken great strides to minimise the huge costs involved in producing ESI, including requiring parties to identify potentially relevant data, outlining the form it will be produced in and the potential costs of production before the court issues a discovery order.