Information Governance Technology and Best Practices: December 2014

http://www.corpcounsel.com/home/id=1202712915655?kw=Transforming%20E-discovery%20Into%20a%20Standard%20Business%20Process&et=editorial&bu=Corporate%20Counsel&cn=20141222&src=EMC-Email&pt=Daily%20Alert&slreturn=20141122084911

An article by Scott M. Giordano, corporate technology counsel of Exterro, which in part provides the following advice:

1. Define roles: Many, if not most, project mistakes can be traced back to a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Formally defining roles and responsibilities and building them into the e-discovery workflow as to what will be delivered, how, when and by whom will prevent mistaken assumptions that are ultimately proven wrong and cause project delays or failures.

2. Review current state/gap analysis: In order to think more strategically about how to address each e-discovery phase, it's important to review the current state of the legal process and technologies being used to determine organization's maturity level. According to Jeff Novak, chief counsel of litigation and compliance at AOL, "You have to understand what you're spending and why before you can figure out a strategy for containing those costs."

3. Develop a remediation plan: Once the improvements have been identified, the remediation plan needs to incorporate how to put them into effect and include the necessary approvals from executive sponsors. The most important thing to note, according to Jones, is when implementing the plan, you don't need to roll out every phase at once. "We couldn't just stop and forget our day jobs. We needed to do both simultaneously," she said.

4. Develop e-discovery guidelines: Create a set of business guidelines that describe step-by-step the actions taken and roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders — legal, IT, records management — that detail how your organization treats e-discovery.

5. Execute the plan: The final step is to execute the plan for new projects and then begin measuring and improving the quality of project outcomes. Start with a test drive, such as a legal hold, and then adjust the process and roll out to other phases of the process.