Make sure you can do your part to help prevent "death by e-discovery." Here’s the complete article by lawyers Jeanine Bermel & Art Smith:
"While no one course of action is appropriate for all corporations, there are some basic steps to prepare for that first e-discovery challenge, none of which guarantee success. On the other hand, failure to recognize the challenges of complying with the e-discovery rules is more likely to lead to disaster.
"Here are a few thoughts on recommended survival tactics to maneuver through the e-discovery minefield.
1. Update and enforce your records management policy.
"Prudence and good corporate management dictate that every business should have a records management policy [PDF]. Such a policy informs employees about the documents they are required to keep as a matter of law or regulation or business necessity. It establishes procedures for the maintenance of records, and equally important, it outlines when records may permissibly be destroyed either because the legal retention period has expired or the business necessity no longer exists."
Authors Art Smith and Jeanine Bermel are members of the Dispute Resolution Practice Group at Husch & Eppenberger in St. Louis and regularly advise their corporate clients on issues relating to electronic discovery.
Would it be helpful to have a system that automatically copies all email messages and their attachments? Would that provide some protection?
Roger Matus
Blog: http://www.DeathByEmail.com
We appreciate your attention to our article, which has received widespread attention.
I would be grateful if you would include a link to the full text of the article in your posts.
Best regards,
Art Smith
For Mr. Smith:
Isn’t your article linked in the first sentence of this post @ the word ‘prevent’?
“Make sure you can do your part to help prevent “death by e-discovery”:
Dana