Spotlights
LexisNexis® Applied Discovery® sRIM Consulting Group
Spotlight on the LexisNexis® Applied Discovery® sRIM Consulting Group
This Spotlight column features an interview with members of the LexisNexis® Applied Discovery® sRIM Consulting Group: Elizabeth Kidd, Litigation Preparedness Consultant, and Wayne Wong, Information Technology Consultant.
The Discovery Standard (DS): On October 23, 2006, LexisNexis Applied Discovery announced the launch of the sRIM Consulting Group. What does sRIM stand for and why was this group formed?
Wayne Wong (WW): sRIM stands for Strategic Records and Information Management, which stresses the proactive aspect of our guidance and consulting services, which may also be called Litigation Preparedness.
The sRIM Consulting Group was a logical evolution of the Applied Discovery offering as a response to:
- Growing demand for guidance and assistance in proactively managing electronically stored information for litigation or investigation response and business efficiency. We’ve seen first hand how the failure to adequately address RIM issues up front can lead to costly discovery and liability in litigation.
- Increased demand by both law firms and organizations for guidance and assistance in understanding and preparing for the ramifications of the December 1, 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
- A new approach by LexisNexis to look at the litigation lifecycle holistically and deliver solutions to address client needs at each phase. The sRIM group helps clients reduce costs and exposure through proactive information management and litigation response preparation.
DS: What are some of the key benefits the sRIM Consulting Group provides organizations and law firms?
WW: Enterprise-wide, Record and Information Management (RIM), is best solved by a multi-disciplined team. Building upon a heritage of discovery expertise, the sRIM Consulting Group comprises expert consultants across the Legal, IT, and Records Management disciplines to bridge the obstacles of disparate priorities and languages within a client organization. We serve as a catalyst to create and foster inter-disciplinary teams and collaboration within the organization.
We are an “on-the-ground” resource ensuring that records and information policies and practices are solidly grounded in the real-world business environment. We promote best practices that are tempered with the specific culture, litigation risk, and resources available to the organization. What can be assessed on-site is often very different from a remote analysis.
Frequently requested services include:
- Assessment and Gap Analysis.
- Putting the FRCP amendments in context.
- Pre-Litigation Guidance and Consulting:
- Assessment of, and guidance on, pretrial conference preparation
- Resource inventory and data mapping (rule 16 and 26(f) conference and pre-collection identification)
- Guidance on “duty to preserve” and avoiding pre-collection spoliation issues
- Business case development for budget justification.
- Providing real-world guidance for IT to help meet the requirements of general counsel.
DS: What types of repercussions could companies face if they do not have an effective document retention program in place face?
WW: An organization that does not have control over its information—even if it is there and they cannot get a handle on producing it—could face:.
- Court imposed sanctions or investigative fines for either not producing relevant data or for spoliation of evidence—think Coleman v. Stanley Morgan.
- Shareholder Liability: inadequate RIM program investment results in enormous costs to an organization. Imagine trying to explain to your shareholders why the organization failed to invest in its RIM program, when, for a relatively small amount, the company could have avoided enormous costs and liability to the organization.
- Loss of proprietary or confidential data: sensitive data that can be emailed or merely "walk" out the door on thumb drives, cell phones, and personal music players.
- Lost revenues and inefficient use of resources: inefficient searches, expanded litigation review, and discovery costs.
- Loss of reputation and good will. The less you know about your organization’s data, the greater the risks.
DS: How prepared are companies today in meeting their obligations, especially in light of the new rules, with their document retention policies and practices?
WW: Recent surveys indicate only 7 to 33% of organizations feel prepared, especially in light of the recent amendments to the FCRP. A good indicator is whether the organization has a Document Retention Policy in place (with Litigation Hold provisions) and whether the policy addresses electronically stored data.
Elizabeth Kidd (EK): Even companies with a robust RIM program admit that they are not always prepared to implement a legal hold efficiently and cost-effectively.
WW: The current top concern we hear from general counsel is the explicit requirement to appear at the FRCP Rule 26(f) "meet and confer" meeting prepared to describe IT systems containing their electronically stored information, and to be prepared to make decisions and argue what data is to be produced and what is accessible or not.
EK: Adoption of considered and sound policy decisions help to establish good faith efforts under the new rules. The key is to adopt a legally defensible approach. The sRIM Consulting Group provides clear, implementable guidance in this area.
DS: In addition to minimizing an organization's legal risk, how can establishing an effective document retention program reduce an organization's total expenses?
WW: I’m not sure the correct metric to focus on is reducing total expenses.
A document retention policy is, ironically, the guidance for disposing of documents and it is generally true that managing less is less expensive than managing more. However, effective document retention is more about a company being efficient at their business and obeying the law. If an enterprise concentrates on just reducing costs, then short term, it could appear that a less expensive strategy would be to either save all data forever or not save anything. It’s easier than actively managing the data or implementing expensive archiving systems. However, time has shown that the long-term answer (a concept called TCO or Total Cost of Ownership), lies in managing the retention along with categorizing and indexing for retrieval. In other words, keep only what you need to conduct your business and comply with regulations governing your particular industry (SEC, FDIC, FDA, etc), your particular location (city, state and federal government), and finally what will give you a competitive advantage over other companies.
Avoiding a $1.5 billion dollar court sanction or SEC fine would certainly save money but does that count as reducing total expenses?
We see organizations that are storing tens of thousands of backup tapes and hundreds of thousands of banker boxes with no “sunset” dates to retire them. Just the cost to store the media is a significant expense that can be reduced.
Any IT Manager will tell you that providing adequate storage capacity for shared network “drives” and e-mailbox storage is a constant drain on IT budgets that continues to grow exponentially.
DS: What are the first steps organizations should take to prepare an effective document retention plan if they do not currently have one in place, and how can the sRIM Services Group assist organizations?
EK: An effective RIM program is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing business process.
WW: The first step is to develop a records retention policy on an enterprise-wide basis to provide awareness and guidance so every employee can individually start complying, even before any technology solutions for enforcement are identified and put in place.
The next step is to perform a quick assessment of record creation and record keeping and to identify the lowest hanging fruit: generally email management. The simple act of defining usage and making a distinction between casual communications versus transactions that constitute company records is significant progress. All corporate email users need an explicit definition of what is proper and what is not, and must also acknowledge notice and compliance as a condition of email use. Even the best policies will fail if the end-users lack periodic training and tools.
EK: The sRIM Group is well equipped to perform these assessments, help prioritize goals, and assist organizations through later steps including policy implementation, vendor selection, employee training, and compliance. We also maintain an extensive survey of products and tools to shorten the RFP or the product selection process significantly.
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About the consultants:
Elizabeth Kidd is a Litigation Preparedness Consultant in the sRIM Consulting Group at LexisNexis Applied Discovery. She has a J.D. from Tulane Law School, where she became the national president of the International Law Students Association and a B.S. from Towson State University, magna cum laude, with a double major in Business Communications and History and a minor in Economics. Ms. Kidd is a member of the bar associations of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Wayne Wong is an Information Technology Consultant in the sRIM Consulting Group at LexisNexis Applied Discovery. Prior to joining Applied Discovery, he was the founder and CEO of a successful entrepreneurial venture in Hawaii and prior to that served as the Chief Technology Officer for Morse Best Innovation, a technical marketing and IT solutions firm. Mr. Wong has a B.S. in Natural Science from the University of Washington and an M.B.A. from the University of Puget Sound.
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