P2P

78 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 subpoenaed to produce over-retained information that could harm their clients in future disputes. This risk factor highlights the importance of data retention and risk mitigation from another perspective: if you do not have it, you cannot produce it! The survey also highlighted that a majority of clients (65%) are pushing for OCGs to include clearly defined retention limits regarding client-provided information and firm work product, and this push for retention applies to both large (64%) and small (50%) firms. In summary, the importance of a compliant IG program cannot be overstated. Clients are requiring outside counsel to advance IG initiatives, namely ethical screens and data disposition, beyond a typical lawyer's comfort zone. However, it's hard to escape the reality that cybercrime continues to escalate, privacy regulations are expanding, and law firms continue to serve as targets for discovery requests. As evidenced by these survey results, the industry has made positive steps in recent years but has a long road ahead to achieving defensible IG programs. The most common retention schedule for extranet file share content is unlimited (37%). This means content in extranet file shares is not automatically deleted and is typically indefinitely retained. Interestingly, only 8% of firms reporting to have deployed comprehensive IG programs fail to address automated data purge in extranet file shares. Moreover, the most common retention schedule law firms adopt for unstructured, user-assigned repositories is unlimited (57%). However, survey results show that this indefinite retention schedule reduces to only 23% of firms with comprehensive IG programs. The indefinite retention of network share drive information is no surprise given the previously mentioned "Wild West" situation most firms describe, translating into a significant data mapping project to unravel. Many cases warrant deciding the degree of risk a firm will accept in purging information without structuring and aligning it with clients/matters. For network share drive content structured in client/ matter directories, the most common retention schedule adopted by the industry is once again unlimited. While this over-retention is concerning, the taxonomy quickly aligns content with the rest of the matter file's retention period or profiles this content to the document management system. Further, no firms with comprehensive IG programs reported unlimited retention applied to structured network shares, with 77% aligning these with the rest of the matter file's paper and DMS content. In contemplating litigation related to retention, 44% of firms expressed concerns about the potential for being

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