Early planning and implementation of procedures to preserve electronic information in the event of a lawsuit can eliminate potentially damaging legal sanctions by the court, a legal expert said during a Web presentation.
Her observation came during an electronic seminar on the topic "The 10 Costliest Mistakes in E-discovery," sponsored by Chicago-based insurance broker Aon.
Marie A. Lona, partner and chair of the E-discovery and electronic information practices at the law firm Winston & Strawn, LLP, said early planning and implementing policies before litigation begins is the primary foundation for avoiding future headaches over electronically stored information.
"It's these early decisions that you make, with respect to these policies and plans, that set the stage for your ability to handle and appropriately respond to litigation…as opposed to a side show dealing with electronic discovery mistakes," said Ms. Lona.
Mistakes and poor planning made today can carry over to future litigation, she noted, and could ultimately result in litigants facing court sanctions.
Early planning, she continued, not only affects the strategy for defending litigation but also contributes to holding down defense costs because it provides efficiency to find the necessary information.
The vast volume of information today is electronic, she said, and less than 3 percent of electronically stored information is converted to paper. Ninety-seven percent of business information is in electronic format, she added, and that figure is rising.
"Companies are not as prepared as they could be, or should be, to face the world of electronic information," Ms. Lona observed.
Updated federal rules have expanded the responsibility of in-house corporate attorneys to deal with electronically stored information, she noted. The rules make it clear that this is discoverable information that must be discussed and disclosed early on in the litigation.
"You must make sure that you have in place systematic, repeatable and defensible procedures that you can discuss in a meet and conference," she said, adding that those procedures have to be continued throughout the litigation.
"What is essential is that counsel, both in-house and outside counsel, have a robust knowledge base of your ESI (electronically stored information). This is critical and it is mandatory," she pointed out.
The complete Web seminar is available at www.aon.com/webseminars.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.