Alignment,Document,Retention,a law Alignment of Document Retention and Litigation Hold Strategi

When you work with an attorney, you will have no problem reducing the risks associated with getting your case in front of a judge and jury, or other formal court, when you need to. However, every case is different. It is important to work wi Bankruptcy is a situation, wherein an individual is termed as unable to discharge all the debts. When a person or a company is not able to pay off its creditors, it has an obligation to file a bankruptcy suit. In fact, a bankruptcy suit is a

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin-top:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0in;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}From the moment we sit down at our work desks toour last Smartphone check before bed, we are constantly reminded of the sheervolume of e-mails and data directed at us. In 2010, averages indicated that approximately 294 billion emails weresent each business day. Statistics from 2011 reveal that the typical businessemail account sent or received an average of 105 emails each day. (“How MuchDo You Know About Your Email?” www.dynamicbusiness.com.au, September 1,2011) More difficult to quantify are enterprise electronic documents (reports,spreadsheets, wikis, SharePoint entries, MS Office documents, etc.) because thevolume of those depends on the type of corporation and the industry vertical.However, the trend is clear and this ever-growing wave of data has—or shouldhave—a huge impact on document retention and litigation hold strategies,particularly in consideration of the bottom line. Data storage is expensive on such a large scale andhas a direct relationship to costs associated with risk management, especiallyfor companies that are exposed to litigation or government regulation.  Full blown processing, review and productioncan have a litigation cost of $2.70 to $4.00 per document. (Degnan D. Accounting for the Costs ofElectronic Discovery. Minnesota Journal of Law, Science &Technology. 2011;12(1):151-190.)While no one wants to risk sanctions for spoliation, clearly it is in acompany’s best interest to defensibly reduce the millions of documents that areoften needlessly preserved. Not only will this practice reduce the cost oflitigation by disposing of data that is either old, useless, or notbusiness related, it will alsomitigate some of the risk and costs that may arise from the unnecessaryretention of potentially damaging data in as yet to be filed oranticipated litigation.Aligning acompany’s document retention policy with its litigation hold strategy can be achallenge when competing interests exist. In order to achieve the cost-optimal balance between the two plans, Legaland IT departments must better coordinate their efforts. Risk management may bethe ultimate objective of both departments, but their perspectives differ enoughthat they often fail to appreciate each other’s contributions to theaccomplishment of this goal. In order to formulate the ideal document retentionpolicy, these departments need to rely on each other’s expertise. All document retention policies are subject toscrutiny if litigation or government regulation comes into the equation. Thislevel of scrutiny is based on a reasonableness standard—is your particulardocument retention policy “reasonable” for your organization’s needs andexposure to litigation or regulation? To gauge this threshold ofreasonableness, an organization needs to ask itself a series of questionsconcerning business needs, obligations, industry standards, and exposure tolitigation. In answering these questions, Legal will want to consult with IT.Meanwhile, IT will need to rely on Legal in regards to what types of documentsundergo specific retention policies. An appropriate document retention policy will alsotake into consideration the statutes of limitations or regulatory requirements thatgovern retention periods of certain documents. Each type of document, includingcontracts, personal injury / product liability, tax, Sarbanes-Oxley, EPA andOSHA related documents should be retained and disposed of accordingly. Forinstance, depending on the jurisdiction, the period of time during which acontract dispute can be brought ranges from three to twenty years, measuredfrom the date of the breach. However, most contract disputes are brought duringthe term of the contract in question or just after termination, allowingcompanies to narrowly tailor their contract related document retention. Thebest document retention policy will also have procedures in place concerning back-uptapes and other forms of deeper archive storage because of the high costsassociated with identifying, accessing and producing data from these. When does the focus shift from document retentionto an obligation to put a litigation hold in place? The duty to preserveattaches when a party is first put on notice of potential litigation. “Once aparty reasonably anticipates litigation, it is obligated to suspend its routinedocument retention / destruction policy and implement a ‘litigation hold’ toensure the preservation of relevant documents.” Goodman v. PraxairServices, Inc. , __ F.Supp.2d __, 2009 WL 1955805 at *14 (D.Md. July 7,2009) (quoting Zubulake IV, 220 F.R.D. at 218). There are some obvious (and more subtle)“trigger events” that can necessitate the litigation hold.Subpoenas,court ordered production, receipt of process or a complaint are clearindicators that you and your organization have an obligation to retain relevantdata. In addition, threats of litigation by an employee, customer, or contractpartner, such as in a demand letter or by email, will also obligate the companyto safeguard relevant data against spoliation. Complaints of labor relatedissues by an employee, such as hostile work environment, sexual harassment, andage discrimination would also trigger a litigation hold for related, relevantdocuments. The litigation hold process can be extremelydifficult, time consuming, and costly to carry out in full compliance with discoveryrules and case law. Fortunately, along with the proliferation of electronicallystored information over the last decade, several Software as a Service (SaaS)solutions have become available to assist with this cumbersome process. Thesetools help outside counsel and in-house corporate counsel quickly transmitlitigation hold memos to the appropriate custodians and then track acceptanceof hold notices. Collaboration, reasonable practices and policies,and varying retention periods for different documents are all instrumental inpreemptively reducing your company’s litigation spend. Not only will the costof storage be reduced, but when the time comes to review and produce thesedocuments, your company is likely to experience significant savings. To furthermaximize efficiency, your company may incorporate new technologies that willoff-set the daunting task of enforcing a legal hold. Despite the constantinflux of emails, reports, spreadsheets, and other data, the management of yourdocument retention and litigation hold implementation need not be overwhelming.