West Legalworks

The Real World: Lessons Learned from Metropolitan Opera and Qualcomm
Oftentimes responsive documents are those created and stored daily by a company's employees in the regular course of business, such as emails, spreadsheets and word documents. Unfortunately, inadvertent (or willful) spoliation and/or failure to produce responsive electronic evidence can lead to dramatic sanctions and penalties. Although the new federal rules would have given visibility to what information needed to be preserved and produced, as well as the format, these pre-rules cases exemplify the need for being proactive. The first step to litigation readiness is that companies, and the legal teams that advise them, need to know what data exists and where to find it. Using these cases, and others like it, our experts will evaluate what could have been different had the parties involved been litigation ready. They'll help create a checklist of where data lies and how to retrieve it and advise on when, how often and why it is important to monitor and reassess the processes set in place to avoid becoming the next real world example.
Records Management and Retention: Best Practices for Establishing and Enforcing Policies and Retention Schedules
Successful litigation readiness starts with records retention and having a policy for electronically stored information ("ESI") is crucial. While the particulars will vary from company to company and industry to industry, the ramifications for failing to have one are uniform. Our experts will discuss the ingredients for establishing effective records management policies and related retention schedules for all media types. They will answer your questions and give practical advice and guidance on roll out issues, ESI inventories and developing formal records management training. You will also leave this session armed with tips and suggestions for auditing and compliance monitoring, incentives, punishments and change management once the policy is in place.
To Save or Not to Save: Preservation of Electronic Data
Do you know when the duty to preserve arises? What happens when the staggering volumes of material that need to be preserved are in different locations, formats and platforms? How do you head off sanctions when the other side insists you've not complied with preservation obligations? Recognizing that preservation poses an enormous challenge, the panelists will weigh the needs of business operations against the risk of spoliation and sanctions. After this session, you may also have a better sense of how to bridge the gap between the IT department and the legal team, all of whom are involved in this tricky undertaking.
Knowing When to Hold 'Em: Legal Hold Policies and Procedures
Legal holds must be a critical component of a company's records retention policy. The Zubulake and Morgan Stanley cases left behind important lessons for in house and outside counsel regarding ESI and records management. When litigation is reasonably anticipated, counsel must, among other things, take affirmative steps to identify the sources of discoverable information, put a litigation hold in place and make it known to all relevant employees directly. But how do you determine when litigation is reasonably anticipated? And once this determination has been made, what is the best way to put a litigation hold in place - and ensure its continued implementation? Look to the experts for help in how to create a legal hold policy and procedure before one needs to be implemented and how to monitor compliance.
Content Search, Collection, Processing, Review and Production
The exponential growth of ESI and e-discovery projects has made it more difficult to find the data that makes - or breaks - your case. Knowing how to identify the data - and handle it once it's been identified - is crucial to successful litigation preparedness. Our panel of experts will examine methods for identifying and collecting data as well as developing collection protocols and systems, chain of custody and processing standards. You'll also benefit from their advice drawn from their own experience on document review and production, including setting expectations for outside counsel and clients alike.
How Emerging Technologies and the IT Department Can Help You
Companies are being forced to rely more on emerging technologies and the expertise of their own IT departments in order to determine what information they possess and how it might be needed should litigation ensue. Utilizing today's technological advances can be a godsend both in locating where data exists, and in assessing it in advance of litigation. For years, we've seen technology for collecting, searching and reviewing electronically stored information. New technologies abound from automated legal hold tools, records management tools and archive tools, to name a few. Having the right IT procedures in place, the right tools in its arsenal and knowing how to use them will serve companies well should they find themselves a target for litigation.