Corporate Governance

E-Mail at Work: Tips to Keep You Out of Trouble

Posted on June 18, 2008
by Heidi Glenn Ever wonder whether your boss is looking over your shoulder as you write e-mails from work? You’re not being paranoid. Companies large and small have turned to monitoring employee e-mail, looking for everything from proprietary data leaks to cyberslacking...

The email age?

Posted on June 18, 2008
E-mail. It was supposed to make communication easier, maybe even make life more manageable. The benefits are obvious ? speed, global reach, mobility. But many people feel burdened rather than liberated. NPR looks at the e-mail assault and how to fight back...

A New Breed of Attorney Enters the Fray

Posted on June 15, 2008
By Irene Gamer New Jersey Law Journal June 13, 2008 In an article entitled “E-Discovery Attorneys: Hot or Not?” published at Law.com, a recruiter named Seth Davis contended that the recent technology boom has produced great demand on the part of corporations and law firms for a new kind of attorney — the e-discovery counsel...

Backdating probes lead to changes

Posted on June 12, 2008
Pamela A. MacLean / Staff reporter National Law Journal June 09, 2008 In the two years since the U.S. government indicted its first corporate executive in the stock-options backdating scandal, more than 130 companies have restated financial results ? producing nearly $14 billion in charges ? and dismissed nearly 100 executives...

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Failure to take ?reasonable precautions? before producing privileged communications in email leads to loss of attorney-client privilege

Posted on June 10, 2008
A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that a company being sued for copyright infringement waived attorney-client privilege for 165 documents accidentally disclosed to opposing counsel during the e-discovery process. In a 43-page opinion issued in federal court in Baltimore, using language from the proposed new Rule 502 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, the court held [...

Comply Or Die: Data Disposition Must Be A Priority

Posted on June 09, 2008
IT groups rethinking the “save everything forever” approach find deletion and retention policies and tools must be razor sharp to cut through a morass of regulations.   By Andrew Conry-Murray While the oil and gas refined by CVR Energy will someday run out, the company generates a seemingly inexhaustible supply of data: 3 to 5 TB of [...

Financial Firms Still Coming to Grips With E-Discovery

Posted on June 08, 2008
Despite the penalties for inadequate e-discovery capabilities, many firms still are challenged to establish effective programs. By Melanie Rodier  A year and a half after amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) ushered in critical new e-discovery obligations for parties to lawsuits in federal court, Wall Street firms still are scrambling to come to grips [...

Unified communications bring e-discovery headache

Posted on June 02, 2008
To its advocates, unified communications is considered the answer to a number of business communication issues. The integration of all communications, including voice and data, over the Internet is gaining wider adoption as organizations pursue it for cost savings, businesses process transformation, enhanced collaboration, and even ?green? benefits...

Proper Proposals

Posted on June 02, 2008
Last year Exelon Corp. launched a massive RFP process to contract its outside legal service providers for 2008 through 2011. Forty-four law firms received invitations to participate, and 42 submitted proposals. In the end, the utility company rewarded 35 firms with positions on its preferred providers list...

E-mail Archiving Demands Overwhelm Backup Alternative

Posted on May 19, 2008
By Kieron Dowling One look at the numbers makes it clear that e-mail archiving is still in its early stages. While most large enterprises have deployed first-generation solutions, the mid-market has yet to answer the call to e-mail archiving even though all organizations are subject to the same regulatory pressures and IT demands...

Lack of Understanding of E-Discovery and Regulatory Requirements Exposes Businesses to Legal and Compliance Risks

Posted on May 15, 2008
RESTON, Va.–Surety, LLC, the leading provider of data integrity solutions, today announced the results of the 2008 Email Security and Authentication Survey. The survey of more than 800 IT security, email security and compliance professionals revealed that 65 percent of respondents lack confidence that their organization’s email records would be admitted as authenticated evidence in [...

US Government Accountability Office Releases Report on Challenges in Implementing an Electronic Records Archive

Posted on May 15, 2008
On May 14, 2008, the GAO released a status report on the efforts to implement an Electronic Records Archive for the Federal Government.  The 21-page report chronicles the numerous challenges encountered in the massive project started back in 2001. Cost over-runs and delays in the project plan make clear that the public sector faces the same challenges as [...

Electronic Communications Preservation Act ? Government?s Attempt to Tame Electronically Stored Information

Posted on May 15, 2008
Finding “what you need when you need it” sounds simple enough, but the dramatic explosion of electronically stored information generated worldwide over the last few years has left individuals, business organizations, and even governments seriously challenged with knowledge management...

Rule 702 and the Reliability of Evidence Obtained through Concept and Other Automated Search Methodologies

Posted on May 14, 2008
After my longest stint of silence in the history of The Datakos Blawg, this important subject has awakened me from a protracted slumber. It’s good to be back! The link below will bring you to a very important article (well, the topic is important at least)...

GCs: In-House Life Overloaded With Meetings, Bureaucracy

Posted on February 21, 2008
Katheryn Hayes Tucker Fulton County Daily Report Establishing trust with businesspeople is a key to success for a general counsel, according to a panel of GCs who offered advice and tips in a program for the Association of Corporate Counsel Georgia chapter last week at the Cumberland Maggiano’s Little Italy...

Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Evidence Rule 502

Posted on February 14, 2008
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved S. 2450 without amendment.  The bill would amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to add new Evidence Rule 502. See Library of Congress.  The legislation addresses waiver of the attorney-client privilege and work product protection and is identical to proposed language approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States and submitted to Congress [...

Amid scandal, NY archivist calls for better record keeping

Posted on February 13, 2008
BY JOSEPH SPECTOR Albany Bureau ALBANY — The state’s archivist warned Tuesday that New York may be entering the “digital dark ages” if it doesn’t better account for electronic records being produced at the state Capitol. The strong message from Archivist Christine Ward came during a hearing by Senate Republicans on accusations that the Spitzer administration had deleted [...

New niche for e-discovery: special masters

Posted on February 12, 2008
CORREY E. STEPHENSON Dolan Media Newswires BOSTON ? The increased use of electronic discovery has resulted in a new set of practitioners: e-discovery special masters. A special master is an officer of the court appointed to help with its proceedings, and may perform functions such as taking testimony or advising the court as a neutral expert...

Datamaps Mitigate Risk under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Meet Evolving Attestation Requirements under Section 404 of Sarbanes Oxley Act

Posted on February 11, 2008
Employees perform,collaborate and execute tasks more efficiently when able to find the information they need when they need it; there are legal discovery cost savings to realize to consider as well. The impetus for developing a so-called datamap comes from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, specifically the procedural requirements of Rule 26(f)...

Greenberg Traurig Freezes Equity Partner Pay, Cites Cost-Conscious Clients

Posted on February 08, 2008
By Debra Cassens Weiss Equity partners at Greenberg Traurig won?t be getting an immediate pay raise because of a $10 million shortfall in year-end collections, driven in part by clients who want legal bills reduced. A memo from chief executive officer Cesar Alvarez said the salaries would remain “at present levels until we get a better [...

Did Lawyer?s E-Mail Goof Land $1B Settlement on NYT?s Front Page?

Posted on February 08, 2008
By Debra Cassens Weiss An outside lawyer for Eli Lilly & Co. apparently has two people named ?Berenson? in her e-mail address book. One is a reporter for the New York Times and the other is her co-counsel assisting in confidential negotiations on a possible $1 billion settlement between the pharmaceutical company and the government...

Seminar Helps Organizations Manage Electronic Data Risk ? 2nd Annual E-Discovery and Beyond Set for New York, March 31st

Posted on January 22, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Ashley Flynn ARMA International 913.312.5561, aflynn@arma.org   Judges are getting tougher every day and are far less likely to listen to what they regard as feeble explanations for mishandling of electronically stored information...

White House Admits Recycling Tapes, Hedges on Missing E-Mail

Posted on January 20, 2008
By Chris Maxcer E-Commerce Times Part of the ECT News Network   Conflict is igniting over official White House e-mails that some say have gone missing, though the Bush administration has officially denied that there is any reason to believe any have been lost...

Ernst & Young Forensic Technology and Discovery Services team in the U.S. Ranked among Top 10 providers of e-Discovery Services in 2007 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey

Posted on January 16, 2008
CHICAGO (January 9, 2008) ? Ernst & Young’s Forensic Technology and Discovery Services team in the U.S. has ranked among the top providers in the 2007 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey.  The global professional services organization, provides forensic technology and e-discovery services as part of its Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services practices, which have more than [...

Football player files missing - Fingers point to Rodriguez

Posted on January 15, 2008
By Dave Hickman Staff writer MORGANTOWN ­- West Virginia officials are wondering if assistant coaches aren’t all that Rich Rodriguez took with him to Michigan. They believe he may also have destroyed all or most of the paperwork files relating to every player on the current Mountaineer roster and virtually all of the activities conducted by the [...

Data Loss Prevention Trends To Watch In 2008

Posted on January 09, 2008
By Stefanie Hoffman, CMP Channel No doubt about it, 2007 was the year that high profile data breaches splashed across the front pages with as much sensation as paint on a Jackson Pollock canvas. TJX kicked off 2007 with the largest data breach in history — a whopping 45...

Judge Sanctions 6 Qualcomm Lawyers

Posted on January 08, 2008
By DON CLARK A federal magistrate issued sanctions against six Qualcomm Inc. attorneys for mishandling evidence in a high-stakes patent case against Broadcom Corp. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major referred the conduct of the six lawyers to the California State Bar Association for an investigation of possible ethical violations...

Pressure Mounts as More Corporate Clients Favor Flat Rates over Billing by the Hour

Posted on January 04, 2008
We have heard the battle cry before, and the wires are abuzz again about having law firms abandon the billable hour, according to Slate. Though few companies openly discuss alternative billing arrangements, there is ample evidence to show that alternative billing is overwhelmingly favored over the hourly rate model...

Managing Ethics in E-Discovery

Posted on January 04, 2008
David G. Keyko New York Law Journal January 3, 2008 Cases like Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., S.D. Cal. 05-cv-1958-B (SLM), have highlighted the dangers to lawyers and their clients of not properly managing electronic discovery. In Qualcomm, during the last day of trial, on cross-examination, a Qualcomm witness revealed the existence of certain unproduced records...

Which GCs Are Most at Risk in Backdating Cases?

Posted on January 04, 2008
Firm partner’s research shows that general counsel who understood backdating’s accounting implications are getting hit hardest Corporate Counsel January 3, 2008 Why is the government taking action against some general counsel who backdated stock options, while letting others off the hook? According to John Villa, the key is whether GCs knew that backdating creates an accounting problem...

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