Implementation Of Law: A Word Of Wisdom

Implementation Of Law: A Word Of Wisdom SharePoint E-Discovery

We have laws for just about everything from personal laws to commercial, contractual, e-discovery, and list goes on and on…

What’s important is to understand the ‘implementation’ of law. In my experience, as an attorney, I have come across hundreds of laws from all the way from legislation to the point when they are repealed! Laws have been around for a long time, yet we regularly find instances/cases where person suffered illegal detention, false imprisonment, and so forth.

The litigation hold in the process of e-discovery can be summed up in the following definition for Implementation of Law:

A litigation hold is a written directive advising custodians of certain documents and electronically-stored information (ESI) to preserve potentially relevant evidence in anticipation of future litigation

Well, easier said than done! In the NuVasive, Inc. v. Madsen Med., Inc., No. 13cv2077, 2015 WL 4479147 (S.D. Cal. July 22, 2015) case, simply implementing a legal hold was not enough to satisfy a party’s duty to preserve. Instead, the party must take affirmative steps to implement the hold, follow up with custodians to ensure data preservation, and also ensure that the hold covers all forms of data, including text messages and other emerging data formats.

Well, that seems like and, in fact, is a daunting task. In today’s computing scenario, where majority of the time the workforce is mobile, and not to mention the influx of mobile devices each of us have an use – then we try to remember “Where in the world did I save/store that document” – you get the point.

Within the realm of e-discovery, litigation can be reduced by providing an indispensable, seamless, and a fully collaborative platform/solution so that documents, text messages, and voice can be saved in repositories. Proactive approach towards data compliance will reduce costs in the long run for corporations!

The Information Governance Model (IGRM) Reference Guide at E.D.R.M does a fairly decent job at presenting a model.

While the future of e-discovery may rest on the foundation of information governance, a wise and proactive approach with special emphasis on building efficient processes, and more importantly automating those processes within the organization must be adopted to reduce legal complexities.