I was one of those asked by Nextpoint to identify a Legaltech buzzword which should the eradicated during 2016. Some of the replies are here.

My own contribution is “kimono” as in the expression “opening the kimono”, or revealing more than others might think might be wise. eDiscovery cooperation is required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as it is in the Civil Procedure Rules of England and Wales. The subject has received fresh coverage the US with the spread of predictive coding and other forms of technology-assisted review as lawyers argue about the extent to which they should show their workings, and in particular whether they should reveal documents which were not disclosed as part of the validation of those which are being produced.

It is not an entirely pointless debate, but it seems to generate more, and more expensive, anguish than it deserves, emphasised by the US hang-up about “work product” – something which barely ruffles the surface of disclosure in the UK.

I don’t know where the expression “to open the kimono” came from, but it is generally used by those arguing against transparency. I can do without the mental image which the phrase conjures up, save in respect of a handful (perhaps two) eDiscovery practitioners (and no, I won’t drawn into further explanation).

Craig Ball chooses “Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)”, another expression which always seemed to me to have connotations beyond those intended by the marketeers who came up with it (“Just relax while I put these gloves on”). I would add “CD”, used by those (often judges) who are a decade behind in their knowledge of data transfer media.

“The cloud” and “processing” deserve their places in this selection. The missing one is “eDiscovery” – surely 2016 will be the year when we recognise that the “e” is superfluous in an age when everything is “e”.

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