Legal Commentary

All lawyers must be able to fashion a successful legal hold, argues Craig Ball in his May "Ball in Your Court" column in  Law Technology News. U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin's recent "terrifying 88-page opinion" in Pension Committee gives no quarter, he says.

"The failure to issue a written litigation hold constitutes gross negligence because that failure is likely to result in the destruction of relevant information," she writes. So what's a lawyer to do? Ball comes to the rescue with tips on creating a workable legal hold.

And there's more news: Ralph Losey, on EDD Update, notes that Scheindlin added another correction to her opinion on May 28. The fix will help folks breath a little easier, he says, as she changes language from "likely constitutes negligence" to "could" -- and "all employees" is modified to "those with any involvement."

Speaking of legal holds, in "Gone, Not Forgotten" Jones Day's Marc Fulkert reminds us that exiting employees may leave behind a trail of electronic data. He offers suggestions for policies that will protect organizations, including prohibiting personnel from using personal computers or e-mail when working -- and to be sure that those folks don't walk away with company computers!