10 Things Every Corporate Legal Department Should Know about eDiscovery
Corporate legal departments fall into two main groups; those that have been through civil litigation, including discovery, and those that have not. Many of those legal departments that have not been through litigation and discovery have wildly different expectations as to their responsibilities and the work involved in responding to a discovery request.
Many of these are of the opinion that when asked to supply all responsive data for a discovery request, they will simply perform a quick search of their email server and file system. And if questioned, will simply inform the Judge that they have a 30 day retention policy and therefore data beyond 30 days does not exist and should not have to be searched for. I recently spoke to corporate legal staff that honestly don’t understand why ESI is such a problem in discovery.
If your company has a 30 day retention policy, and if you think that requests for data beyond the 30 days is ridiculous. You will have a rude awakening. The best way to change the minds of the corporate legal staff is to have them talk to a plaintiff’s attorney about how they assemble and argue discovery requests.
Mimosa will be interviewing a plaintiff’s counsel on Nov 20th - asking the 10 things every corporate legal department should know about eDiscovery in civil litigation. Topics will include what you should do to prepare for the FRCP “Early Meet and Confer” session, what’s considered inaccessible and why among other things.
Do yourself a favor and listen to this well known Washington DC lawyer’s strategies around discovery. You can register for this webinar here (if you miss it they will send you the recording).
Tags: Compliance, corporate counsel, corporate legal, eDiscovery, litigation
