by Tom Stilp JD, MBA/MM, LLM, MSC, DBA, March 31, 2026
How many times in business do you write something down, then input what you wrote into a computer, or have someone else, like a shipping clerk or a person in the office, store the information from the paper into a computer? Such a simple, common place practice could spell big trouble in court. If you do not keep the original paper notes you wrote, your computer information may be inadmissible in court. You could lose your case.
Proving that even some lawyers don’t know better, in an Illinois Appellate Court decision, Aliana v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 2015 IL App (1st) 143367, the Court set aside an attorney fee award because the attorneys did not keep the original paper documents.
In Aliana, the attorneys would keep track of their time on the file with paper records / notes, then have a secretary input the information into a well-recognized legal accounting system, and a Partner would review all information in the computer against the original papers. Once the Partner confirmed the information had been accurately transcribed into the computer billing system, he threw out the original paper notes.
The problem arose when the other side wanted to compare the original handwritten notes with the computer records under a rule of evidence known as the “Best Evidence Rule.” A bit of a misnomer, the rule does not focus on technically what may be the “best” evidence, but on what was “original” evidence – the rule is better called the “Original Writing Rule.”
In any event, the attorneys were not able to produce the original handwritten notes, and the attorney fee award was reversed.
In short, it is better to design systems that do not require “redundant” review and input by multiple people, but if you must use such a process in your business, at least think about keeping the original notes. Lawyers, as everyone knows, keep (and should keep) a lot of documents and paperwork. That’s the lawyer’s work-product.
Having taken over 150 cases to trial, we know what happens in court and what you need to prove and win your case.
