E-discovery laws: Having an information governance framework matters

http://ow.ly/6J2HE

An article by Ron Condon, UK Bureau Chief, posted on the search security website, searchsecurity.co.uk

This article discusses the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and how the eDiscovery provisions effect UK corporations.

The article states, "According to Debra Logan, an analyst with research and advisory firm Gartner who specializes in the field of e-discovery, most UK organizations believe e-disclosure is an American phenomenon, and of no concern to them. But they are wrong.

“Some Europeans think it doesn’t matter here,” Logan said, “but the fact is that the rules of disclosure and discovery are no different in any jurisdiction.”

Furthermore, with increased regulations and laws covering factors such as privacy and corporate bribery, there is a growing level of litigation in Europe. According to Fulbright & Jaworski, a law firm that tracks litigation trends in the US and UK, 50% of UK companies faced at least one legal dispute in 2010, compared with 45% the year before."

The article goes on to state, "The UK courts are already aware of the problem. In April 2011, the Ministry of Justice issued Practice Direction 31B – Disclosure of Electronic Documents, which spells out in some detail what lawyers need to consider when discovering and disclosing electronic evidence.

According to the Direction, the main guiding principles should be as follows:

• Electronic documents should be managed efficiently in order to minimise the cost incurred by e-discovery.
• Technology should be used to ensure document management activities are undertaken efficiently and effectively.
• Disclosure should be given in a manner that gives effect to the overriding objective [of getting to the truth].
• Electronic documents should generally be made available for inspection in a form that allows the party receiving the documents the same ability to access, search, review and display the documents as the party giving disclosure.
• Disclosure of electronic documents that are of no relevance to the proceedings may place an excessive burden in time and cost on the party to whom disclosure is given."

In addition, the article further provides some interesting statistics, "And don’t just think it’s a question of archiving emails. As a recent study by Symantec revealed, e-disclosure requests can cover a wide range of file types. Files and documents (67%) are the most frequently requested, followed by database or application data (61%), email (58%), SharePoint files (51%), instant messages and text messages (44%), and social media (41%)." 

A link to the Symantec survey is provided in the article, and was previously referenced on the Litigation Support Technology and News blog.