Word of the week: Eclipse

In legal tech last week, those in the path of totality collectively inhaled in respectful awe during the latest total eclipse of the sun. Those reading a Connecticut court opinion sanctioning a pro se litigant inhaled in frightened awe. The litigant attempted to influence the treatment of his case by using the job applicant-v.-automated-screener trick of tiny white font keywords in his electronic filing documents. eDiscovery professionals immediately looked to determine how their AI foundations and supporting tools treated prompt injection in text, images, metadata, and compressed and embedded files (hat tip to Sheila Grela).

Let’s remain united in our support for each other. For support or to assist a colleague, contact us at info@edrm.net to join our weekly Community Support Call, now in its seventh year.

On the EDRM Blog

• EDRM 2.0 Public Comments: Key Issues and Trustee Responses as of August 16, 2026
• Bolch Judicial Institute receives $5 million award from The Duke Endowment
• Investigations Don’t Arrive in One Tidy Format: Cellebrite Genesis for Enterprise Brings it all Together for Faster More Defensible Outcomes
• Relativity Launches claiR, Giving Lawyers Conversational Command of the Full Depth of Their Legal Data
• How Does an “Attorney’s Eyes Only” Order Apply to an Unrepresented Party?
• When AI Agents Go Rogue, the Logs Become Evidence
• Cite Checking to Find Hallucinated Cases Deemed Insufficient – Part II – Verification and Candor Are Expected
• Recent AI evaluation incidents expose gaps in containment, configuration and evidence
• It May Be an Abuse of Discretion to Grant Summary Judgment for a Defendant Before Deciding a Plaintiff’s Sanctions Motion

Upcoming Webinars on the EDRM Global Webinar Channel

• 18 August 2026 | 12 PM ET – [HaystackID® Webcast] From Breach to Legal Crisis: The Hours That Define Your Exposure
• 23 September 2026 | 12 PM ET – [HaystackID® Webcast] Getting AI Right in eDiscovery: Quality, Validation, and Results

Can’t make it to a live session? Past EDRM webinars are available to watch anytime on the EDRM Global Webinar Channel. Missed a recent one? Catch up on our most recent on-demand webinars:

• Quantum Law: AI, Quantum Computing, and the Future of Legal Judgment
• [HaystackID® Webcast] From Hype to Workflow: Insights from Experts on the Impact of AI on eDiscovery
• Digital Evidence: Mapping the Landscape with Case Insights

Updates from Around the Globe

• Global Legal Tech Developments: The Connecticut court opinion (Elliott v. New York Bariatric Group) that sanctioned a pro se litigant for using prompt injection to influence the outcome or “audit” the court’s systems was all over the news, with Judge Scott Schlegel weighing in, publications Ars Technica, Above the Law, 404 Media, and Tom’s Hardware looking into it, and Harris Beach Murtha calling it a short case with a long shadow. Axios analyzed how liability for runaway AI might encourage better testing hygiene to temper rogue agents. The US White House recruited private-sector security firms to hack overseas criminals, creating a framework to greenlight offensive operations. ComplexDiscovery analyzed the timeline and legal risks to organizations participating in the program, including an untested Computer Fraud and Abuse Act defense. Mike Berman analyzed a North Carolina court opinion that automated cite checking is not enough to prevent or remediate hallucinations. After a defeat in New Mexico, Meta entered a critical phase of its California trial, where harm to children and teens was alleged.
  
  
• International eDiscovery Trends: The larger project team for EDRM 2.0 meets this week as the update to the core diagram is finalized. EDRM is grateful for every contributor, those who took the time to render thoughtful, constructive Public Comments, the graphic contributions of Megan McKiernan and Ryan Hill, and the leadership of Shannon Bales, Stephanie Clerkin, Rian Kennedy and Brett Burney, with Dave Cohen, Chair of the Project Trustees, Robert Keeling, Chair of the Global Advisory Council, and operational support from Holley Robinson. Greg Buckles of eDiscovery Journal reviewed the approach and checked the math of the Redgrave Air v. CAL case study. In a cautionary tale, Iron Mountain was sued to ensure archival preservation for a public television station whose cloud provider had gone under. Cellebrite explained the varieties of investigations. Relativity released claiR, a conversational chatbot for aiR. ComplexDiscovery released the 2H 2026 update of Andrew Haslam’s eDisclosure Systems Buyers Guide, a free community resource combining current supplier and software listings with market analysis, M&A tracking and eDiscovery business confidence benchmarks.
  
  Thank you to eDiscovery Today for their Kitchen Sink coverage highlighting Ralph Losey’s deep dive on the Hugging Face incident involving OpenAI, Mike Berman’s analysis of an opinion on the timing of summary judgment and a pending sanctions motion, ComplexDiscovery’s coverage of recent AI evaluation incidents and the imminent implementation of the EU’s e-evidence regime, requiring rapid preservation and disclosure.
  
  
• World Events Impacting Legal Tech: Jared Kushner met separately with Hamas leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Gaza. The sixty-day negotiation period between the US and Iran expired. South Korea proposed normalizing relations with North Korea. Romania started to shut down a nuclear reactor due to low Danube water levels, while Hungary sunk barges to raise water levels. The Ebola outbreak is the deadliest in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s history. Indonesia joined Colombia in suffering deadly earthquakes. Belgium and Greece are battling wildfires. Indiana flooded and Hawaii battled a hurricane. The world watched as one during the latest awe-inspiring eclipse.

Catch our latest syndicated EDRM Global Podcast Network episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and more.

Illumination Zone Podcasts

Recent guests include:

• Episode 240 | Harsh Behl, Vice President of Product Management, Exterro
• Episode 239 | Erin Meyer, Senior Vice President of Marketing Operations; Mary Bennett, Senior Director of Content Marketing; Jason Cassel, Director of Marketing; and Alex Lewandowski, Marketing Coordinator, HaystackID
• Episode 238 | Ralph Losey, CEO, Losey AI, LLC

EDRM Announcements

• Survey Request: Our Trusted Partner, Magnet Forensics, has launched its annual State of Enterprise DFIR survey, and we’re glad to help spread the word. The survey takes about 20 minutes and closes August 31, 2026. Please share your insights here.
• EDRM 2.0 Update: Public comment on the revised model has officially closed. The project team is now finalizing the model for release. (more details coming soon)
• Save the Date: Join EDRM’s session at RelFest Chicago 2026, “EDRM in Action: Framework Updates and Faster, Lower-Cost Email Discovery,” on Wednesday, September 30, from 3:30pm-4:15pm CT. 
• Save the Date: eDiscovery Day is December 3, 2026. Now in its 12th year, the annual event is organized by Trusted Partner Exterro, with EDRM proud to support alongside eDiscovery Today and ACEDS. (more details coming soon)

Weekly Community Support Call: Join us every Tuesday at 6PM Eastern on Zoom for support and camaraderie. Email info@edrm.net for an invitation to our 339th call. For mental health care, consider these professional resources.

All are welcome,
Mary and Holley

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P.S. This update was assisted by GAI and LLM Technologies as per EDRM’s GAI and LLM Policy