~t4 Memphis Business rouma!
EMPHASIS: AITDRHEYS
memphisbusinessioumal.clllll I Det. J.9, W10
lPrivacy, managing dat~ are challenges law firms face in going electronic
BY KAREN OTT MAYER
; As attorneys and law firms move
:tram paper to electronic documents,
'they face complex challenges on two
fronts: managing int~rnal electronic
;data and protecting chent prIvacy.
:: Electronic data Includes informa:tion from cell phones, texts, e-mails,
;'e·docs such as spreadsheets or word
'documents, and information on social
'media sites. Ironically, paper Itself is
'now just as mUch a risk because of the
software that can tr<msform content
Into data that can be mined.
The term "Information governance"
encompasses areas such ascompllance,
data management and archival policies
as they relate to electronlcdata. Partic-
u!arly wi!;1",rorporate clients, data has
,taken on it"ift'ew dimension.
"Many corporations have data they
don't lmow what it is or where It came
from as employees come
and go and no one is maximizing use or minimizing
.risk," say Stephen Thack·
er, director with Ikon Of·
ficeSolutionslnc. Thacker
helps legal clients manage
data and advises on e·dis·
Thacker
covery services.
In 2006, amendments to
.the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
concerning the discovery of "electronically stored information" made
data available for discovery, stacking
the cards In favor of those tech·savvy
attorneys, according to Thacker.
"Ninety·eight percent of intellectual
property was in an eoformat anyway by then so it
made sense," he says.
. AttOrneys, evenby their
own admission, lag other
professions When it comes
to technology.
"We're late adopters,"
Pera
says Lucian Pera, a part·
ner with Adams and Reese LLP Who specializes in legal ethics
and advising lawyers.
Thacker agrees. "Lawyers aren't IT
guys."
Pera believes client technology use
is pulling the legal profession forward
and risks exist on that learning curve.
bassberry,com
"One major risk is using a technology before fUlly understanding how safe
It Is. If an attorney doesn't Understand
a technology, he shouldn't use It," he
,,,,,.
The profession' moved through the
same transltlons with fax and e.mail.
"Ten years ago, we were reluctant
.
to communicate with opposing council via e-maR Ikon Office
Today; we freely commu- Solutions Int.
nlcate using this technol- Address: 1910
ogy," Pera says. "Our firm tlonconnall
still uses an engagement Blvd.
letter that asks questions Phone: {!lOll
about unencrypted e- 348-1588
mails."
Website: www.
As software has ad· Ikon.com
vanced and the cost of
serverstoragehasdecreased, firms and
corporations have found it cheaper to
buy data management services rather
than hire, Pera says.
The adventof electronic information
also presents a. true paradigm shift in
thelegal field.
"E·documents are more efficient,"
~hacker says. "Previously, attorheys
spent hours sorting through documents and those were billable hours
tbatarenow reduced."
What used to take 30 people to sift
through boxes of paper durIng dis·
cowry can now be handled by several
attorneys who can put their hands on
"hot docs" even faster. Some software
allows an attorney to sort through
50,000 documents In four hours. '
Thacker notices another trend.
"Technology allows for a smaller
practice group or even a single-man
flrrn. They no longer need the structure
of a big-practice or that staff of 30 support people,"
In one case, Thackersays an attorney
needed to sort through 42 gigs of data.
He hired three attorney friends and
they started minIng the data on Thurs·
day evening. By FridaY morning, they
had discovered the "smoking gun" and
had settled the case by Friday evening.
As far as the software itself, 'I'hacker
says no one solution fits all.
Relativity, Catalyst Repository Systems andothersoftwaresysternsofferedocument services that have advanced
tremendously over the last five years.
Systems not only capture content, but
can cOnceptualize to determine specifics like tonality. Lawyers can search to
flnd llke-documents or groups.
.
"Lawyers Who don't trustthetechnology need to understand that It's their
expertise applied consIstently that
drives the process," he says.
The other bIg discussion revolves
around liapillty and exposure for clients. Not only are lawyers using tech·
nology, so are their clients, who also
may ormay not understand the risks.
Thacker says two key factors drive
risk;Payingatten lion to howcUentdata
is stored and having a retention policy;
"You don't want to be the firm that still
has data after a case Is settled."
Another factor driving the increased
use of e.discovery is cost. Where a gig
of information could cost as much as
$3,000 to store, the electronic price now
runs as low as $500.
"BUild yourself an internal case
team," he says. "Get with a technology
person who understands infrastructure. And finally, be proactive. It's time
orrnoney."
'
WlfIAtt freelance'writer Karen ott May~ at xSO'
[email protected]