Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/25416
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND PRESERVE YOUR DATA (AND YOUR DIGNITY) media company. While enterprise legal teams, along with IT support, might feel prepared for discovery of company documents and e-mail messages stored on company servers, producing information controlled by social media companies presents unique challenges for these teams. In her November 29, 2010 article for the National Law Forum, Jennifer Schaller outlines where social media falls in a company’s duty to preserve: The 2006 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure amendments changed the discovery rules to allow a party to request “electronically stored information” within the “possession, custody, or control” of the responding party… Social media data fits the definition of ESI; thus, businesses must deal with the issue of preserving and possibly producing social media data that fall under their data retention policy. to manage and monitor that content through up- to-date data mapping and flexible legal project management software. Randal Girouard of Haynes and Boone, LLC, “With social media here to stay — and growing in popularity every day — the question needs to change from ‘How do we avoid these sites?’ to ‘How can we manage our risk?’” coauthor of “E-Discovery Project Management” for ILTA’s October 2010 white paper, cites “coordinating the resources used in the process [of e-discovery] to produce a repeatable, sustainable, and defensible process” as one of the major challenges in e-discovery. Girouard continues: Project management tools and strategies facilitate the coordination of the many parties and point tools involved, promote communication and collaboration between those parties, create a record of the process, promote discipline and consistency, and provide a framework for compliance enforcement. THE NEW FIRM MOTTO: BE PREPARED What does all this mean for legal and IT teams? With social media here to stay — and growing in popularity every day — the question needs to change from “How do we avoid these sites?” to “How can we manage our risk?” One way is to include social media content in the information governance policies of an enterprise, and There are advanced technologies provided by e-discovery companies that specialize in legal software solutions. These companies are well-positioned to help enterprise legal and IT teams prepare their clients for e-discovery challenges created by social media. By investing time in e-discovery www.iltanet.org Litigation and Practice Support 27