Nightmare on ESI Street: How to Sleep Well in a Scary Regulatory Climate

http://ow.ly/6QHkt

An article by Dean Gonsowski posted on the e-Discovery 2.0 blog.

This article asks the question to legal practitioners..."what keeps you up at night?", and states that eDiscovery is moving to the top of that list.

The article states, "In a recent survey, BDO queried more than 100 directors at public companies with revenues between $250 million and $750 million and found that risk management factored heavily into the survey’s findings. Over half of respondents identified managing risk as the topic they should be spending more time on, with 61% saying that their liability risk has increased during the financial downturn."  A link to the survey is provided in the article.

The article further states, "56% (of corporate directors) cited electronic discovery for litigation and investigation, which represented a marked increase since 2007, when only 36% of general counsel said they had the same nightmares."

The author also, "This increasing concern around compliance and information governance isn’t surprising giving that the regulatory environment (FCPA, UK Bribery Act, Dodd-Frank, etc.) is much more rigorous than it was even a few years ago."

According to the author, "What is interesting about these concerns is the disconnect between the very real fears and the lack of action – since many practitioners simply aren’t taking proactive steps to mitigate their information governance risks."  This certainly is a true area of concern, as those tasked with regulatory compliance and risk management are sometimes not on the same page with in-house counsel.

The article also provides a link to Symantec’s recent Information Retention and eDiscovery Survey.  This survey revealed interesting findings such as the fact that 14% of corporations have no plans to implement any retention policy whatsoever, and the author states, "When asked why folks weren’t taking action, respondents indicated lack of need (41%), too costly (38%), nobody has been chartered with that responsibility (27%), don’t have time (26%) and lack of expertise (21%) as top reasons."