Eli Lilly lawyer sent important memo to The New York Times by mistake

When the New York Times recently broke a story that Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) was in confidential settlement talks with the federal government, the drugmaker was furious over the leak believing government officials were behind it. The company was probably enraged when it learned that one of its own lawyers accidentally sent a memo to a Times reporter about the settlement talks over whether it had improperly marketed Zyprexa.

"One of its outside lawyers at Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton had mistakenly emailed confidential information on the talks to Times reporter Alex Berenson instead of Bradford Berenson, her co-counsel at Sidley Austin," according to Portfolio.com. "With the negotiations over alleged marketing improprieties reaching a mind-boggling sum of $1 billion, Eli Lilly had every reason to want to keep the talks under wraps. It was paying the two fancy law firms a small fortune to negotiate deftly and quietly."

Pepper Hamilton was no doubt mortified but the Indianapolis-based drugmaker told the magazine that it would continue to retain the firm. Odds are good that there will be an adjustment or two to Lilly's hefty legal bill.

This goes to show you that even the most sophisticated technology can't save people from their own thoughtless mistakes.