Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | I N F O R M A T I O N G O V E R N E N C E 28 Leigh Isaacs is the Director, Information Governance & Records Management at Proskauer Rose LLP. Her expertise includes strategic development and implementation of enterprise records and information governance/ privacy programs, process improvements, matter lifecycle management, risk mitigation, vendor management, evaluation, design and implementation of technology solutions. She enjoys building teams and programs to meet the ever changing needs of law firms and their clients. An active member of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), Leigh has served as Vice President of the Program Planning Counsel and other volunteer roles. She is also a founding Steering Committee Member for the Law Firm Information Governance Symposium, serves on the Advisory board for the Information Governance Initiative and has served in various leadership roles for ARMA. She is the creator of an information governance course and is a published author, speaker and instructor in issues relating to information governance. P R O P E R N A M I N G A N D C L A S S I F I C A T I O N O F F I L E S what steps can be taken to mitigate this? Secretaries and paralegals can be an invaluable support resource in this regard but you should be encouraged to look beyond that. Are there opportunities to develop workflows and roles and assign responsibilities to others to take on these tasks? One example is to look to a records/information governance team. As many firms are reducing their reliance on paper, there are often already trained, skilled personnel who have bandwidth to lend their expertise in different ways. Conversely, explore how system capabilities and design may assist in this regard. Can you leverage metadata fields within your DMS to do some of this identification by default? Careful thought and planning can be used downstream by search and classification tools and eliminate certain aspects of manual effort otherwise required by end users. ABA Model Rule 1.6 Confidentiality of Information essentially sets forth expectations that requires us to appropriately manage files. At its most basic, this means that any files/information for a particular client/matter must appropriately be associated with it. Proper naming conventions can also aid in the effective and compliant management of matters. Beyond the "finding the right information at the right time – quickly," naming conventions help us understand the types of information we have and what we should do with it. For example, there are different levels of sensitivity associated with client property, and ramifications in the event of a breach, so it is important to distinguish this information. Classification starts at the beginning. The deeper in you are, the more challenging it is. That said, it's important to start. Resist paralysis by attempting to solve all of your legacy information issues at once. Take the time to develop a strate and engage your stakeholders to establish your standards and start. Find the right opportunities. A boil-the- ocean approach is overwhelming and most often – ineffective. Is there a group that is more open and receptive than others to embark on such an initiative? Have there been specific pain points that naming standards and classification would alleviate? Do you have a high-risk practice area where the ramifications of non-compliance are high? Are there other projects planned (like a DMS upgrade, new content management system implementation, etc.) that you can pig-back on? These sorts of situations are often good inroads for grassroots efforts. Once established, implement on a go-forward basis. Stop the bleeding. A retroactive look into legacy information can follow. Follow our series on this topic to continue learning about practical considerations and approaches. ILTA

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