The website CMS Wire has an excellent article by Betsy Atkins. She is an “expert witness” on Corporate Governance Best Practices testifying in the Adelphia bankruptcy case as well as before Congress on governance reform. Her article published on June 25, 2009, gives some straight forward behind the scenes advice to corporate board members on creating and implementing successful information mangement strategies.
Anyone following Records and Information Management (RIM) and E-Discovery over the past few years understands that there has been a convergence of RIM, IT and Legal as organizations attempt to control risk inherent in the expanding universe of data (also known as electronically stored information (ESI) in legal circles). Governance of records management programs has been brought under the fold of many legal departments as of late. With the risk of non-compliance being too big to ignore, many corporate boards are working to implement strategies that bring cost certainty and maximize protection for the corporation.
Effective legal hold policy and procedures are an essential part of good corporate governance. On legal hold policy Ms. Atkins writes:
Also, a “legal hold” policy must be able to kick in immediately should a court or regulatory action be launched (too often a memo from counsel saying “Don’t delete X data” brings replies like “what x data?” or “too late.”).
The article breaks down the following topics:
- How Technology Became the Board’s Business
- The High Cost of Information “Mis-Governance”
- IT and Corporate Governance: Similar Concerns, But Different Languages
- Why We Call it a “Data Retention,” Policy, Not “Data Deletion”
- Shaping Board-Friendly Information Governance
- Requirements for a Modern e-Discovery Platform
To read The Cost of Information Misgovernance, and What You Can Do about IT click here. For specific information on developing and implementing a defensible legal hold policy and procedures click here. To see model legal hold policy and procedures click here.
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