Have you ever considered what data would be required if a lawsuit was ever imposed on your organization?

"Discovery" is the process by which relevant information is exchanged between parties in a lawsuit. It's well known that the Federal and state courts have recognized that Electronic Stored Information (ESI) is subject to the same discovery rules as other evidence relevant to a lawsuit. Recently we've seen more of a spotlight put the rules governing the requirement surrounding data preservation with the implementation of the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which took effect on December 1, 2006. Specifically, Cases like Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., S.D. Cal. 05-cv-1958-B (SLM), have highlighted the dangers to lawyers and their clients of not properly managing electronic discovery. In Qualcomm, during the last day of trial, a Qualcomm witness revealed the existence of certain unproduced records. As a result, court rulings resulted in the imposition of huge sanctions for their failure to preserve electronic data. Qualcomm was ordered to pay Broadcom $8,568,633.24 monetary sanction ordered by the Magistrate Judge.

Data preservation is the management of information over time. Because of the new amendments to the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure (FRCP), all organizations now face new challenges in management of there information and understanding what is considered their information. Consider a University as an example, assume that a lawsuit has been commenced against the University (or a charge filed with an administrative agency), or if it is reasonably anticipated that a lawsuit may be brought (or a charge filed), the University and all of its faculty and staff members are now under a legal duty to preserve all evidence, whether hard copy or electronic, that might become relevant to the lawsuit. Examples like this exemplify the constant input of effort, time, and money required to handle the rapid technological and organizational advances, and are considered one of the many main stumbling blocks for preserving digital information within any organization.

Dresner Group can help you implement the technologies to allow your organization to preserve your data in a secure and effective manner.