Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Mikki Tomlinson. Published: 2012-08-09 05:00:52Format, images and links may no longer function correctly. The Executive Counsel Institute (ECI) Corporate Exchange programs are always excellent. Not only are the discussions educational and informative, they are important. The New York event that took place on July 16-17, 2012, was no exception. Here is my take on a few of the program highlights.
Information Governance: While there was not a session dedicated to Information Governance (IG), a number of the discussions turned to the topic. Many refer to this as “left of the left side of the EDRM”. The theory as it relates to eDiscovery is that if we have good IG, then we: (1) have more efficient and effective ways to target preservation and collection, and (2) have a more meaningful collection to review. Thus, the corporate litigant will get more bang for its buck in discovery efforts and spend. Great theory. The problem as I see it, however, is that it is difficult to actually attain good IG. The difficulty lies in the balancing act of information/records management, security, compliance and eDiscovery with the needs of the business to do its business.
One of the more interesting discussions about IG was around technology. One of the participants posed the question, “why don’t corporations use the technologies that government agencies do for FOIA requests as information governance tools?” I can think of a couple of reasons why this would be a non-starter in corporations, but am keeping my eyes and ears open to the possibilities.
Preservation and Legal Hold: Moderator Paul Weiner led a scholarly discussion on relevant case law that I found to be particularly enlightening. Preservation and legal hold has been a hot topic since day one of eDiscovery. It has been thoroughly debated and discussed to seemingly near exhaustion, yet remains a highly relevant issue and there is certainly an abundance of case law to prove it. For more than a year the federal rulemaking authorities have been discussing ESI related amendments to the FRCP as to preservation and sanctions. If any changes are made, they will not go into effect until 2015.
Over-preservation continues to be painful and costly for full-time corporate litigants, one-off small/medium businesses and individual litigants alike. The issues arise largely from the difficulty in determining scope at the early stages of litigation (and pre-litigation), dealing with changing scope through the life of a matter, and the inherent challenges of negotiating with opposing parties.
Project Management and Education/Certification: Good project management is a must when it comes to handling eDiscovery. The group had an excellent conversation on what project management in eDiscovery is and the role of project managers. What I found to be most interesting was the discussion on certification and training. The dialogue was consistent with the current results of EDJ’s certification and education survey. See: Early Survey Results Show Strong Interest In eDiscovery Education And Training. eDiscovery professionals place a great value on learning and continuing education, however, the question of what it means to be “certified” in eDiscovery remains a debatable one.
Whether you are an eDiscovery novice or expert, Executive Counsel Institute has something to offer. I hope to see you at the upcoming event in Houston being held September 19-20, 2012.
eDiscovery Journal Contributor – Mikki Tomlinson (mikki@eDJGroupInc.com)