Tech Law Advisor is in the process of updating it Services page. In the meantime, I have prepared a PDF of our project offerings for your perusal.

Been playing with the iPad for a few hours to see how well it will work as a presentation tool – not happy with the comments that I have read in the Keynote app ratings.

Have to commend MacLitigator, Tablet Legal and Legal iPad on their iPad in the Legal Profession coverage.

iPad specific apps that I have downloaded and like so far are Adobe Ideas, Evernote, twitterific, notes, ibooks, and gmail renders beautifully in Safari on the iPad.

Some that I need to take a further look at include Keynote, offline pages, goodreader, and penultimate.

Is it enough to just have a document retention policy or should you have a specific email retention policy as well. Should you also develop email usage guidelines to accompany the ERP or any IT Security Policy that may cover proper use of email systems?

Are you an international company? Do you understand the implications of the European privacy laws and how to accurately proscribe international guidelines?

Are you up to date on recent case rulings in your local jurisdiction and how that may affect your guidelines. For example, this morning a NJ court ruled that private email could not be read by an employer and doing so was an invasion of privacy. Does this ruling set a precedent?

Just thinking about your current policies and their practical applications is definitely a good start, but clients often realize that there were many questions that they have not yet asked themselves.
Working with a Corporate Records Retention consultant may initially lead to many issues to consider but eventually to a better understanding of the state of your current corporate policies and practices and where change needs to happen.

Community is currently my second favorite show on television and I find the writing sharp and witty. Reminds me of my study groups while in Law school actually, which is probably why I like it so much.

Anyway, in the law profession there’s a continuing conversation about titles and what you can call yourself, especially in light of the fact that you have earned a Juris Doctor or Doctor of Law degree… are you Dr. Kevin or Kevin, Esq. or Kevin, J.D.?

I think Abed, who is one of the best sitcom characters ever, yeah better than Costanza, settles this issue:

• Jeff: “and Fancy jobs don’t impress people…”
  Abed: “anyone can be a lawyer, you can even represent themself, you can’t do surgery on yourself, it’s illegal and then you get arrested and then you get a free lawyer…”

Beginning Pottery

Most companies know that they need to preserve records and even electronic records, including email, in the event of a potential claim or issue. However, these same companies fail to consider what other types of electronically stored information may be encompassed within the terms of a litigation hold.

One area, of special attention, is the ESI and email of former employees. This is even more important as a result of Judge Scheindlin’s Pension Comm. opinion [pdf].

What processes and procedures do you have in place for handling terminated or exiting employees ESI. Is it uniform across the corporation, across every site?

As part of a comprehensive records management assessment, I can help you to identify problem areas where your corporation may fall short of minimum standards and provide recommendations and plans on how to get your organization on track.

Success in implementing a company wide records retention policy and program is predicated upon the parts working as a whole i.e. achieving buy-in at every level of the organization from the CEO to the employee.

Part of the role I play as consultant, is as mediator between IT, Legal and Records Management. When these three main spokes are connected then the wheels will move.

Recent studies have shown that three of the main factors in achieving e-discovery and thus records management success are success are:

If you work within one of these departments and need help achieving success, please feel free to contact me today for a free consultation to see how I can best serve the needs of your organization.

Just Skimming through a 2010 records management benchmarking report and finding that there has not been much change in the percentage of companies that have taken the initiative to get formal records management policies in place.

One of the core solutions that I provide is helping your organization to achieve RM best practices through the implementation of technology. However, technology is not enough and you need retention policies and schedules in place.

If you are in need of updating your records management policies, I am here to advise.

A colleague of mine presented at the NJ Tech Council Cloud Computing Seminar last month. For those of you who did not brave traveling during the snowstorm, he has kindly posted his Aviator’s Guide to the Cloud [pdf] on his bio page.

A properly executed Email File Plan can help meet specific organizational goals including:

Compliance : Effectively meet general business and legal recordkeeping requirements

Litigation Readiness: Ease the Burden on E-Discovery preparedness; enable effective litigation hold and discovery processes

Security: Secure email by centralizing storage and maintaining overall access to employee email

Operational Efficiency and Employee Productivity: Simplicity, ease of use and access for end users

Costs: Reduce Storage by expunging non-critical email when obsolete; reduce duplication of messages and files

Further Information:

Legal Implications

Approaches

Assessment

Records Retention

Almost half of the e-discovery opinions concerned sanctions, and sanctions were awarded in 70% of those cases, including 10 cases with terminating sanctions and five cases sanctioning counsel.

2009 E-Discovery Trends