Impact of E-Discovery
E-discovery is the perfect fit for the Big I little t equation—new regulations are forcing companies to put the emphasis on information like never before. Essentially, this means knowing what information to store and how to find it. It means putting policies in place to govern the management of information, and enforcing them. Obviously technology is an important part of the equation as it can help automate, enforce and audit this process. At AIIM, we’ll surely see plenty of new strategies and technologies to help companies handle the impact litigation and regulatory requests can have on their information management framework.
I’m hosting a roundtable next Tuesday to discuss what is or should be important to businesses when it comes to being prepared to meet requirements for e-discovery. We’re bringing together a group of people that are passionate about tackling the challenges that lie ahead—some of them are lawyers, some are industry experts/analysts and some are press. For those of you who won’t be with us in Boston, I invite you to share your opinions on the questions below, as we’d love to start the conversation right here.
• Are companies developing in-house e-discovery teams or are they outsourcing to experts/providers? What do you recommend?I appreciate the input. We’re podcasting the session, so check back for more next week.
• How do most companies search out and find e-discovery/litigation service providers? What key attributes help one provider stand out over another?
• The expansion of the e-discovery market means more options, cost and liability when it comes to technology. What motivates technology buying decisions?
• Attorney review of documents can be the most costly aspect of e-discovery. What technology or other tools are companies using to cut down these expenses?
• How do you best convince a company they need a document retention strategy? How do you help them enforce it?
Craig Freeman
Vice President, Xerox Litigation Services
Xerox Global Services
Comments
Craig asks some good questions here to start this off. I look forward to seeing some of the responses.
I am an e-discovery lawyer and have a response to the first question. I know that many cos are forming there own teams, and some are still farming the whole problem out. If a co has significant repeat litigation then the farm-out alternative can be very expensive. Cos routinely involved in several suits a year (and most Fortunbe 1000 cos fit that category) should certainly form their own in-house teams.
The team should include one or more vendors and a knowledgebale outside attorney. Such an attorney will know the various vendors and outside experts and their respective skills. They should also be able to help form the in-house team. For those reasons the outside counsel should usually be picked first to help to create the team, and select the best vendors for the job (at the best price).
The team effort is what I focus on because in my opinion the disconnect between IT and Legal is the source of most e-discovery mistakes, and the area in which cos need significant improvement. The first thing we do is help a co. form an internal team that includes select members from IT and Legal, and also business group leaders. Only after that key start-up, and focus on specific group tasks, such as ESI inventory and litigation hold protocols, do you bring in the outside experts. As the team matures its reliance on outside experts can decrease, but their help at first is critical.
Good luck in your round table discussion. Sorry I wont be able to make it in person.
Ralph
ralphlosey@wordpress.com
Posted by: Ralph Losey | April 13, 2007 04:45 PM