Cruising Through E-discovery

The author offers best practices, strategies and concrete advice about e-discovery projects. The starting point is the creation of a process for preserving and collecting new data types, with collaboration among IT, Legal and HR. These teams should also include internal and outside counsel, HR enterprise managers, IT experts and consultants. Their tasks are to know where the data is stored, craft a collection plan, update data management policies and decide whether work will be done in-house or by a third party.

In order for teams from different departments to work effectively, roles must be clearly defined and an effective process and tracking system must be developed. The CIO and the GC must back the effort, and the GC in particular needs to be educated on the importance of developing a relationship with IT.

Roles of IT and legal need to be clearly defined, and personal relationships built. There should be a universal tracking system for discovery requests.

Large data volumes can be managed by creating a system that enables you to know what you have and where it’s stored, to align information governance and e-discovery policies and take steps to defensibly delete data you no longer need.

Whether or not to collect data is the fundamental question. Some collect to preserve, others preserve in-place, or use a hybrid approach. Regardless of strategy, following the same process each time can make the difference when it comes to a successful collection.