The eighteenth century French philosopher Voltaire famously wrote that, in England, they considered it a good idea to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others. The much-publicized convictions of certain United States corporate executives in recent months might similarly encourage their counterparts in other companies to pay attention to their legal obligations. We provide three articles which may help to provide a little more encouragement with respect to records retention and production requirements.
In the first article, Paul Benson and Juan Ramirez point out that having a valid and reasonable record retention policy is mandatory - at least, if you want to avoid losing cases on the grounds of spoliation. They go on to provide some useful guidelines for establishing - and executing - a suitable policy.
The DRI seminar reviewed by Keith Ecker reminds us that while some may be tired of hearing about electronic discovery (not us at Cataphora!), it is a real issue that is going to get even more prominent.
Although they stop short of mandating capital punishment in order to encourage proper management of electronic information, the federal sentencing guidelines do speak to corporate governance as it applies to this topic, as The Hon. Ronald J. Hedges explains in our final article.
By Paul Benson and Juan Ramirez
With e-mail dramatically increasing the sheer volume of electronic information stored and disseminated on a daily basis, your organization can ill-afford the consequences of not being prepared to deal with the evolving legal landscape of electronic discovery. As one jurist noted: "The corporate graveyard is littered with data preservation plans that were not properly followed. . . [and] having a plan that is not followed is worse than having no plan at all."
More at Wisconsin Technology Network - http://wistechnology.com/printarticle.php?id=2867
By Keith Ecker
Like street preachers proselytizing that the end of the world is just around the corner, legal technology experts long have been espousing the message that misfortune will afflict those ill prepared for the coming rapture — the rapture in this case being an e-discovery request. They use Morgan Stanley as their prime example, a corporate defendant crucified by a court for withholding evidence in a discovery request. This isn’t to downplay the seriousness of the Morgan Stanley case. The company did indeed run afoul of court orders, and thus the court levied heavy sanctions. But still, after being bombarded with news of doom and gloom, counsel are getting pretty tired of this e-discovery hoopla.
But at a recent DRI hosted e-discovery seminar, outside and in-house counsel alike got a glimpse at what the future holds for litigation.
More at Inside Counsel - http://www.insidecounsel.com/issues/insidecounsel/15_197/news/471-1.html
By The Hon. Ronald J. Hedges
It may surprise many to learn that the federal sentencing guidelines have a relationship to corporate governance and, specifically, for the purpose of this article, to the management of electronic information. Organizations such as corporations can commit federal crimes and can be convicted of them. The sentencing guidelines, which are effectively a manual, include an entire chapter that addresses the sentencing of "organizations."
More at Law.com - http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1148634337369
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