System and method for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged documents

• US 20050004951A1
• Filed: 07/02/2004
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Gruskin, Michael A., Ciaramitaro, Barbara L., Wolfe, Edward C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,130,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system and method for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged documents in two independent schemas. One schema is a privileged schema for storing privileged documents and the other schema is a non-privileged schema for storing non-privileged documents. The two schemas are separate and distinct so that privileged and non-privileged documents are not commingled. Access to the privileged schema is restricted to privileged users while non-privileged users have access only to the non-privileged schema. As a result, privileged documents are protected against the inadvertent waiver of privilege.

Claims

1. A system for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged documents comprising:

a privileged schema for storing the privileged documents, a non-privileged schema for storing the non-privileged documents, the privileged and non-privileged schemas being separate and distinct so that privileged and non-privileged documents are not commingled thereby helping to protect the privileged documents against an inadvertent waiver of privilege, and means for moving privileged documents from the non-privileged schema to the privileged schema.

2. A system for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged documents, comprising:

a privileged schema for storing the privileged documents, a non-privileged schema for storing the non-privileged documents, the privileged and non-privileged schemas being separate and distinct so that privileged and non-privileged documents are not commingled, where access to the privileged schema is restricted to privileged users and non-privileged users have access only to the non-privileged schema, thereby to help protect the privileged documents against inadvertent production and waiver of privilege, and means for moving privileged documents from the non-privileged schema to the privileged schema and for leaving only non-privileged information about the document in the non-privileged schema.

3. A system for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged documents in which a document may be managed as partially privileged where a portion of the document is privileged and the remainder of the document is non-privileged, comprising:

a privileged schema for storing privileged document content including the full content of partially privileged documents, a non-privileged schema for storing non-privileged document content including the non-privileged content only of partially privileged documents, where the privileged and non-privileged schemas are independent of one another so that privileged and non-privileged document content is not commingled, whereby privileged document content is protected from inadvertent production and waiver of privilege, and means for moving the full content of partially privileged documents to the privileged schema and for removing the privileged content of partially privileged documents from the non-privileged schema.

4. A system for electronically managing the designation of a document or portion thereof as privileged, comprising:

a privileged schema for storing privileged documents, a non-privileged schema for storing non-privileged documents, means to enable a user to propose a privilege designation for a document in the non-privileged schema, means for immediately placing a hold on the proposed privileged document that prevents the document from being produced, means for noticing the proposed privilege designation to users and approvers who access the document, means for enabling approvers to approve the proposed privilege designation, and means operative immediately upon approval of the proposed privilege designation for moving the full content of the document to the privileged schema and for removing all privileged content of the document from the non-privileged schema, thereby to minimize the opportunity for errors in managing the designation of the document as privileged and to avoid inadvertent production of the document and consequent waiver of privilege.

5. A system for electronically managing the designated privilege status of a document, comprising:

means for initially designating the privilege status of the document, means for changing the privilege status designation of the document, and means for recording the history of privilege status designations for the document.

6. A system for electronically managing privileged and non-privileged document content, comprising:

a privileged schema for storing privileged document content, a non-privileged schema for storing non-privileged document content, the privileged and non-privileged schemas being separate and distinct so that privileged and non-privileged document content is not commingled, and means for designating document content in the non-privileged schema as privileged and transferring it immediately in real-time from the non-privileged schema to the privileged schema, thereby to minimized the chance for inadvertent production and waiver of privilege as to the privileged document content.

7. A method for managing privileged documents, the method comprising:

categorizing documents as privileged and non-privileged;

establishing a privileged schema permitting a user access to full content of the privileged documents; and

establishing a non-privileged schema permitting the user access to full content of the non-privileged documents.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the privileged category includes partially privileged documents, the privileged schema permits the user access to full content of the partially privileged documents, and the non-privileged schema permits the user access to non-privileged portions of the partially privileged documents.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein a user session allows the user to access one of the privileged schema and the non-privileged schema.

10. A method for managing privileged documents, the method comprising:

receiving a proposed privilege status modification for a document;

notifying a user of the document of the proposed privilege status modification;

accepting the proposed privilege status modification; and

applying the proposed privilege status modification to the document in response to the accepting.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the proposed privilege status modification includes redacting a privileged portion of the document.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the applying includes disabling access to the privileged portion of the document when the document is accessed via a non-privileged schema.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the applying includes providing access to the privileged portion of the document when the document is accessed via a privileged schema.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the applying includes storing a copy of the document in a non-privileged schema with the privileged portion deleted and storing a copy of the document in a privileged schema with the privileged portion accessible.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the proposed privilege status modification includes designating a privilege categorization of privileged to the document.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the applying includes disabling access to contents of the document from a non-privileged schema.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the applying includes permitting access to contents of the document from a privileged schema.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the applying is initiated in real time after the accepting is completed.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the applying is initiated less than ten seconds after the accepting is completed.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the proposed privilege status modification includes adding a new privilege treatment to the document or changing an existing privilege treatment associated with the document.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the new privilege treatment is one or both of attorney client privilege and attorney work product doctrine.

22. The method of claim 10 wherein the proposed privilege status modification includes adding a new privilege treatment to a redacted portion of the document or changing an existing privilege treatment associated with the redacted portion of the document.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the new privilege treatment is one or both of attorney client privilege and attorney work product doctrine.

24. The method of claim 10 wherein the user is an unlocked production document that is associated with the document.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the unlocked production document includes a current production decision value of no decision and the method further comprises replacing the current production decision with a value of hold in response to receiving the proposed privilege status modification.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the unlocked production document includes a current production decision value of produce and the method further comprises replacing the current production decision with a value of hold in response to receiving the proposed privilege status modification.

27. The method of claim 10 further comprising notifying the user of the document of the applying.

28. The method of claim 10 wherein the user is an end user accessing the document via a user interface.

29. The method of claim 10 further comprising logging the proposed privilege status modification to a modification log.

30. The method of claim 10 further comprising logging the applying to a modification log.

31. The method of claim 10 wherein the notifying is initiated in real-time after the receiving is completed.

32. The method of claim 10 wherein the notifying is initiated less than ten seconds after the receiving is completed.

33. A method for managing privileged documents, the method comprising:

generating a copy of an original document;

storing the copy of the document in a non-privileged schema;

deleting a privileged portion of the copy of the document, wherein the privileged portion of the document is not accessible via the non-privileged schema; and

storing the original document in a privileged schema with the privileged portion accessible.

34. A system for managing privileged documents, the system comprising:

a data repository; and

a host system in communication with the data repository, the host system including instructions to implement a method comprising;

receiving a proposed privilege status modification for a document stored in the data repository;

notifying a user of the document of the proposed privilege status modification;

accepting the proposed privilege status modification; and

applying the proposed privilege status modification to the document in response to the accepting, wherein the applying includes updating the data repository.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the data repository includes a non-privileged schema and a privileged schema.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein the data repository includes a document table, a treatments table, a folders table, a production folders table, a pages table, an annotations table and an annotation treatments table.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the document table includes a field to indicate if a privilege status of the document has been updated since the document was initially loaded into the database.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein the production folders table includes a field to indicate if a privilege status of the document has changed after a production document corresponding to the document was associated to a production folder and before the production document was locked.

39. The system of claim 36 wherein the production folders table includes a field to indicate if a privilege status of the document has changed after a production document corresponding to the document was locked into a production folder.

40. The system of claim 36 wherein the document table includes a field to indicate if the document has a proposed privilege status.

41. The system of claim 36 wherein the production document table includes a field to indicate if a production document includes a proposed privilege status, wherein the production document is associated with the document.

42. A computer program product for managing privileged documents, the computer program product comprising:

a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

receiving a proposed privilege status modification for a document;

notifying a user of the document of the proposed privilege status modification;

accepting the proposed privilege status modification; and

applying the proposed privilege status modification to the document in response to the accepting.