Electronic Discovery Navigator

Information Governance and Its Impact on Litigation

Information Governance and Its Impact on Litigation

"The amount of information generated by business today is continually increasing—some estimate 1.8 zettabyes of data will be created in 2011. While word processing, social media, and email have made it easier to create information, it remains important to effectively govern that information in order to minimize risk while maintaining the information's value to the organization. Information governance is important because it allows business to share information more effectively across departments and geography, and prevent the mistakes and wasted energy so often caused by lack of communication and information silos.

While a company cannot typically control the increasing number of lawsuits, audits, and investigations it may face, it can establish parameters around its response to those obligations, minimize the company's public scrutiny, remain compliant, and reduce business and legal risk, cost, and impact. To that end, it is important to establish guidelines and policies around information governance and leverage technology to help implement those protocols."

A Quick-Guide Article to Reducing Backup Times

A Quick-Guide Article to Reducing Backup Times

"Though backup software vendors continue making advancements in technology to speed up the process, the time it takes to backup can still be very time consuming for many IT managers today. A recent survey conducted by Vanson Bourne on 1,000 UK companies suggested businesses are on average backing up to tape once a month, with one rather alarming statistic from the same survey showing 10 percent were only backing up to tape once per year.

This infrequency of backup could realistically be strongly attributable to the time factor involved. Likely, many companies would run their backups on Friday evenings, in the hope for it to be completed by Monday business start. But with such large data pools, these backups might not complete in time, and can therefore often be postponed for larger time frames."

When a cloud service vanishes: How to protect your data

When a cloud service vanishes: How to protect your data

"The Web services that we entrust with our data can -- and do -- vanish. And when that happens, you need to have a plan. In the following pages, I'll take a look at some cases where user data was lost or endangered, how the companies (and their users) handled the situation, and what you can do to keep your own information safe."

A Legal Software Reality Check

A Legal Software Reality Check

"Technology analysis firm Gartner recently published several reports dubbed "hype cycles" as reality checks against pundits' and vendors' buzzwords, fluff, and vaporware. One such report by analyst French Caldwell, Hype Cycle for Legal and Regulatory Information Governance, 2011, includes several sections directly relevant to legal technology including redaction, forensics, and e-discovery software.

"Legal and compliance challenges are most often the business drivers for beginning or enhancing information governance programs. Therefore, corporate compliance officers, general counsels, and IT legal support managers have crucial roles in formulating policies, overseeing processes and enforcing standards around information governance,” Caldwell wrote, referring to the overarching process of making data conform to business strategies instead of the opposite."

Don't Confuse Oranges With Apples: E-Discovery on Macintosh Systems

Don't Confuse Oranges With Apples: E-Discovery on Macintosh Systems

"As if dealing with electronic data discovery in a predominately Microsoft Windows world is not difficult enough, Apple's Macintosh computer systems are increasingly finding their way into corporate environments and present unique discovery challenges. Lawyers who assume they can simply use a standard Windows discovery approach when dealing with Macs may be committing an error in logical reasoning — similar to comparing apples to oranges.

During the identification stage lawyers typically reach out to relevant custodians and the client's IT contacts to gain an understanding of key issues, and the systems and electronically stored information that may come into play."

Avoiding eDiscovery Nightmares: 10 Ways CEOs Can Sleep Easier

Avoiding eDiscovery Nightmares: 10 Ways CEOs Can Sleep Easier

My good friend Robert Brownstone wrote a David Letterman-style Top 10 List of things you can do to address the risks in electronic discovery.  Here's the article.

Social Networking Compliance: A Guide for IT Teams

Social Networking Compliance: A Guide for IT Teams

"The Information Age is in full bloom, and communication is now a 24x7 phenomenon. In companies large and small, individuals spend much of their days answering e-mails, sending co-workers instant messages (IMs), posting blogs and tweeting.

While these developments have helped some companies streamline business processes and increase productivity, they also raise new management issues. Bits of corporate data information are flying around in cyberspace like children darting around an amusement park. In order to be in compliance with various government and industry regulations, companies need to safeguard their data. To do this, IT departments need to track an ever-expanding array of communications options and then block, collect and archive employee exchanges."

How to Develop Efficient E-Discovery Systems

How to Develop Efficient E-Discovery Systems

"Among large corporations that are serial litigants, there is growing recognition of the proactive need to implement consistent and reproducible e-discovery systems in their organization before—not after—they face significant e-discovery obligations in litigation. While the commitment is significant in terms of the time and effort required to implement and maintain such e-discovery systems, the investment of resources quickly pays off in the form of litigation efficiencies and reduced attorneys' fees and vendor costs down the road."

An Inconvenient Forum - Reining In E-Discovery In The United States

An Inconvenient Forum - Reining In E-Discovery In The United States

"The costs of litigation, particularly for large companies, has continued to skyrocket as electronic discovery moves from the fringe of litigation to center stage. Long, protracted e-discovery disputes have become more common, and occur in an environment where pitfalls are questionably defined and liability can be daunting. In fact, a recent survey of attorneys conducted by the ABA demonstrated that a substantial majority of the interviewed attorneys agreed that e-discovery is not only overly burdensome, but has also disproportionately increased the cost of litigation. Cases are settled because of anticipated cost rather than on the merits of the action, and many lawsuits are simply not brought from fear of the cost of litigation. To preserve the function of the civil justice system, something must be changed.

Cooperation is the cornerstone to discovery, and e-discovery is no exception. However, in many cases the parties cannot agree on all aspects of e-discovery, and courts have been forced to intervene. The results are not always consistent, and litigants may find themselves in trouble, despite their best efforts to meet their obligations. Worse still, litigants may find themselves targeted by unscrupulous e-discovery practices by an opponent that are designed solely to drive up costs or convince the court to issue sanctions."

E-Discovery Takes A Turn - Charting The Course To Discovery From Social Networks

E-Discovery Takes A Turn - Charting The Course To Discovery From Social Networks

"Social networks are a relatively untapped discovery source that can contain a wealth of useful information. Because unsophisticated users of social networks will likely have difficulty preserving such data, the best source for discovery is to seek the production directly from the SNPs subscribed to by the user. For compliance with the SCA, counsel will be required to secure consent from the user, which can be compelled by a court. With the service of a subpoena and authorization from the user, counsel can begin the process of obtaining production from the SNPs.

Although some users have successfully argued that the privacy settings should dictate what information is discoverable, such an analysis defies the historically broad scope of discoverable information. For example, the fact that a party sends written correspondence to another in a sealed envelope, even marked confidential, does not render it undiscoverable. The same is arguably true for ESI, whether it is email or communications through social networks, regardless of whether the user designated the information as private."