[michaelt]

Team Best Buy seems pretty unethical, and when Best Buy's lawyers manually check which CEO e-mails were relevant to the case I'm sure honest mistakes sometimes get made. It would be awfully easy for dishonest 'mistakes' to be made with one or two of the most incriminating e-mails.

Are you really saying there's no independent auditing? That the entire system relies on Best Buy's lawyers incriminating their co-workers and the employer who puts bread on their table? That seems exceptionally trusting in lawyers' professional ethics.

Does the discovery at least have to be done by an different law firm to the corporation's day-to-day legal work?

[rayiner]

This sort of thing is almost always handled by an outside law firm, similar to how audits are handled by an outside accounting firm.

Remember also that plaintiff's counsel also thoroughly interviews witnesses under oath. Cross-checking witness accounts can highlight inconsistency in the documentary record. It also adds a second group of people who don't want to hide information under threat of punishment.