Free Letter - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1 :04-cv-01551-JJF Document 316 Filed 08/28/2007 Page 1 of 2
MORRIS, NICHOLS, ARSHT & TUNNELL LLP
1201 NORTH MARKET STREET
P.O. Box 1347
Wr1.1vm~1oToN, DELAWARE 19899-1347
r 302 658 9200
302 658 3989 FAX
WILLIAM H. SUDELL, J1:.
302 351 9284
302 425 4685 Fax
WSud€l1@]I1I13t. com
August 28, 2007
E-FILED AND HAND-DELIVERED
The Honorable Joseph J. Faman, Jr.
United States District Court
District of Delaware
844 N. King Street 8
Room 4124, Lockbox 27
Wilmington, DE 19801
RE: Stanziale v. Pepper Hamilton LLP, et al., No. 07-427
Dear Judge Farnan:
On February 8, 2007, the United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York transferred Pepper Hamilton’s motion to compel compliance with a subpoena duces
tecum to this Court. The motion, which relates to two cases presently scheduled for trial before
Your Honor on October 10, 2007 -- Stanziale v. Pepper Hamilton LLP, et al., No. 04-1551, and
Royal Indemnity Co. v. Pepper Hamilton LLP, et al., No. 05-165 -- was officially entered on this
Cou1t’s docket under a separate docket number on July 6, 2007. Pepper respectfully requests a
ruling on the motion, as Pepper will need to make considerable efforts if the motion is granted to
extract and review the potentially critical information contained on the computer server that is
the subject of the motion in the six weeks remaining before trial.
Pepper Hamilton’s motion seeks to compel the production of an email server used
by its former client, Student Finance Corporation ("SFC"). The email server contains thousands
of emails to and from former SFC employees, including emails between SFC, Pepper Hamilton
and other attomeys retained by SFC. These emails are critically important given that the
bankruptcy trustee for SFC has sued Pepper for, among other things, legal malpractice and
breach of fiduciary duty. The emails likely will show what advice Pepper Hamilton and SFC’s

Case 1 :04-cv-01551-JJF Document 316 Filed 08/28/2007 Page 2 of 2
The Honorable Joseph J. Farnan, Jr.
August 28, 2007
Page Two ·
other lawyers did and did not give to SFC and what disclosures Pepper Hamilton made to SFC
with respect to the conflicts of interest alleged by the Trustee.]
The email server at issue is in the possession of a non-party, Mandiant
Corporation. VVhen Mandiant refused to comply with a subpoena commanding the production of
the server, Pepper Hamilton moved to compel compliance in the United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York, the Court from which the subpoena issued. The motion was
fully briefed and argued in the Southern District before it was transferred to Your Honor.
Pepper Hamilton stands ready to present the Court with any additional
information it may need to decide the motion in advance of the October l0, 2007 trial in these
matters.
Respectfully submitted,
L/(/%V pa/..·.2n—
7
William H. sudc11, J1.
WHS/clh
cc: All Counsel on Attached Service List
1221983
1 Pepper Hamilton does not have copies of many of the emails it sent to SFC because those emails
were deleted from Pepper Hamilton’s system in the nonnal course of business pursuant to Pepper
Hamilton’s document retention policies before SFC collapsed.