How to Preserve Data for E-Discovery

The e-discovery process is a long and arduous one. And the first step is to ensure that all possible responsive data to a request is adequately preserved. Failure to do so could result in monumental sanctions against a company. This means that a number of stakeholders need to come together, with legal at the helm, then ensure all electronically stored information is held in the event of an e-discovery request. This article will teach you how to properly preserve this information.

Things You'll Need

• IT Staff
• Legal Staff
• Records Management Staff
• Data Map
• Data Retention and Destruction Policies
• Data Repository

Instructions

Preserving Data for E-Discovery

1. Bring together the IT, legal and records management staff for a meeting.

2. Instruct legal to share with the other departments their obligations under the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

3. Instruct records management to share with the other departments the current status of the company's data retention and destruction policies.

4. Instruct IT to create or purchase a separate repository where information that may be responsive to a legal hold can be stored in.

5. Ensure IT, legal and records management have an up-to-date copy of the company's data map. This will be the master reference when a question arises concerning the location of certain types of data. It will also help IT identify where to pull data from that needs to be preserved.

6. Ensure legal, records management and IT create a process, likely involving e-mail, whereby legal can inform both departments when a matter arises. This means that legal must e-mail records management instructing them to put a hold on the data destruction policy while simultaneously instructing IT to pull data from certain repositories into a master litigation repository.

7. Retain the information within the preservation repository until either the matter has concluded, which legal should inform the staff about, or if the matter continues forward, whereby this data must be collected, processed, reviewed and produced for e-discovery.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider purchasing software to assist in the preservation process. Some companies specialize in applications that can help IT, legal and records management coordinates their efforts to preserve information.

• Consider hiring a consultant to help ensure the process remains compliant with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

• Use the data stored within the preservation repository to assess the downstream costs of e-discovery.

• Failure to properly preserve information responsive to an e-discovery request can result in sanctions against a company.