eDiscovery Navigator

Civil Justice Reform - Service Providers Proportionate Litigation

Civil Justice Reform - Service Providers Proportionate Litigation

"Proportionality has always been a guiding principle in Canadian Courts on a number of different issues including remedies, costs and Charter claims. Since January 2010, the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure (the "Rules") have required a proportionality analysis to be conducted with respect to the overall civil proceeding and more specifically, in the discovery process. A proportionality analysis involves the balancing of many factors so as to meet the defined objectives while limiting the burdens, costs or delays that are not strictly necessary to meet those objectives. The rules regarding proportionality aim to minimize the time, costs and delay to obtain truly relevant evidence and thereby increase access to justice.

The Rules now require counsel to carefully consider and plan the file strategy and discovery objectives at a very early stage. Counsel will need important preliminary information from their clients to enable meaningful and cooperative discussions with opposing counsel to prepare a discovery plan. Counsel will need to be able to justify the scope of their requests of opponents and, where necessary, gather the appropriate evidence to argue a motion on the proportionate scope of discovery."

Where Does eDiscovery Fit In Your Governance, Risk And Compliance (GRC) Strategy?

Where Does eDiscovery Fit In Your Governance, Risk And Compliance (GRC) Strategy?

"There are many common activities and goals shared by GRC and eDiscovery and the risk and cost of this increased scrutiny is a board-level issue. This convergence ranges from centralizing the business processes and policies of creating and managing information to the downstream risks associated with those policies and decisions.

On the information technology (IT) front, we are seeing many companies undertaking reforms of their records management and information management programs so that they have a much better grasp on the ESI in their systems. One driver for this transformation is the decreasing tolerance of the courts for parties unable to produce relevant documents as a result of sub-par information management processes, technology and systems. One driver is cost - it is simply more expensive if one has to scour multiple systems and repositories to find relevant information. Lastly, a driver is time. If it takes you two weeks to find the information you need as opposed to 24 hours, both your risk and cost have increased."

Spoliation laws affect new Wisconsin eDiscovery regulations

Spoliation laws affect new Wisconsin eDiscovery regulations

"Companies and legal counsels in Wisconsin must take the state's existing spoliation law into account with new eDiscovery regulations set to take effect, according to a report in Wisconsin Lawyer.

Wisconsin defines spoliation as the destruction or withholding of critical evidence, which pertains to email archiving in the case of eDiscovery. Analysis to determine spoliation includes determining if a party knew or should have known litigation was a possibility and if a party destroyed evidence it knew or should have known pertained to a specific case."

The Duty to Preserve ESI -- Do You Know What You Have to Do?

The Duty to Preserve ESI -- Do You Know What You Have to Do?

"Much has been written about the duty to preserve electronically stored information (ESI) --  it's expensive, challenging given the breadth of organization's IT infrastructures, and requires cooperation and communication among departments (legal, IT and records) that do not usually see each other as partners, but rather as clients.  Meeting the legal duties imposed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to preserve, collect and produce ESI in litigation situations now requires a new way of thinking."

Protecting and Securing Confidential Client Data

Protecting and Securing Confidential Client Data

"Law firms are entrusted with the most sensitive and valuable information the release of which may be devastating for affected clients, as well as for the firm. In light of state and federal legislation regulating health, financial, and technology secrets, a law firm may face criminal, regulatory, or disciplinary proceedings from an unauthorized release of information. A law firm may also face civil claims, ranging from breach of contract and fiduciary duty to malpractice, defamation, or other torts. Law firms may lose loyal clients, or jeopardize the privacy and financial interests of loyal employees."

Email archiving failures top list of primary email issues

Email archiving failures top list of primary email issues

"An email security vendor recently reported email archiving and eDiscovery failures ranked as the premier problems plaguing enterprise IT departments in a list of the 10 most pressing issues in email security.

Piper Jaffray's failure to archive email over a six-year span received the No. 1 distinction. The investment bank received a $700,000 fine from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for its violation, which also illustrated the effect poor management of electronically stored information can have on eDiscovery practice."