Survey Finds Most Organizations Not Ready for e-Discovery
A recent survey conducted by Osterman Research and sponsored by message archiving provider, LiveOffice, found that companies are not well prepared for the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). Established by the Federal Court system, these rules require organizations that operate within the United States to manage their electronically stored information (ESI) so that it can be produced in a timely and complete manner. This includes emails and instant messages (IMs). The new rules went into effect December 2006.
To see where companies stand with their e-Discovery technology six months into the new rules, Osterman Research polled more than 400 IT mangers and endusers nationwide in early June. Survey findings revealed 63 percent of respondents have been required to produce an email as part of a legal action, yet 53 percent admit they are not prepared to meet the new requirements of the amendments. In fact, one in three (28.9 percent) organizations admit they are not even aware of the FRCP regulations.
In addition, 52 percent of IT managers polled do not have an e-Discovery plan that has been prepared by legal counsel, increasing the chances of costly mistakes. This figure is surprising considering that several wellknown companies have already paid the price for not having an effective e-Discovery plan. As attorney and e-Discovery expert Ralph Losey of Akerman Senterfitt notes, "In many instances, 80 percent of the information in litigation cases is electronic. And in most of these situations, emails or IMs have provided the smoking gun. The message to organizations is clear, if there is a possibility that they will end up involved in federal litigation, organizations must have a timely and complete method for retrieving emails and IMs."
Even more surprising, nearly one-third of the organizations polled admitted that, even if they had to, they could not produce a yearold email. This finding is likely due to the fact that one in four organizations say they purge their emails manually or automatically after 90 days or less. A practice that is clearly inadequate to meet the needs of most organizations, particularly in light of the recent changes to the FRCP and e-Discovery case law.
Michael Osterman of Osterman Research advises, "Ignorance of technology is no defense. One of the most logical methods for storing electronic data, like emails and IMs, is deploying a digital archiving solution that can easily satisfy all e-Discovery requirements without creating major headaches for IT and legal."
The FRCP amendments place a burden on legal counsel, and therefore organizations, to ensure that all relevant electronic data is gathered and preserved. Compounding this issue is the sheer magnitude of emails companies are now managing. Survey findings revealed that a single employee, on average, will send and receive more than 135 emails per day. This means that a mid-sized organization, with 500 employees, will generate more than 17.5 million emails per year. During federal litigation, it is the responsibility of the organization to know where and how to retrieve all of these emails at any time. Organizations must ask themselves, "Can we find the needle in the email haystack?" MS/TMP
By Matt Smith president of LiveOffice