E-Discovery Lifecycle

As anyone faced with discovery requests knows, one of the most important parts of producing documents is determining what documents are subject to attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine and must therefore be redacted or withheld. Failing to conduct an effective privilege review can have dire consequences -- from exposure of highly confidential information to even waiver of the privilege. In Part One of this blog post, we discussed how difficult it can be in a corporate context to determine whether an individual document should be withheld or redacted as privileged.  In this Part Two, we discuss how employing technology in our privilege review reduces risk and makes this process easier and more efficient.

While the term sounds quite formal, with respect to e-discovery, in practice, “Information Governance” really means getting your electronic house in order so that you can mitigate risks and expenses should e-discovery become an issue in the future. “Getting your electronic house in order” covers the entire data lifecycle, from the initial creation of electronically stored information (“ESI”) through its final disposition, and potentially involves an organization’s entire suite of technology and related processes, policies and strategies. Indeed, IG becomes the foundation and framework of an organization’s  management of its information assets and, importantly, the degree to which e-discovery processes are streamlined and cost-efficient is dependent upon having effective IG policies and procedures in place.