Legal Industry Survey Reveals Big Deficits in eDiscovery Readiness

In Pursuit of Proactive Litigation Preparedness:SMThe dawn of the DISCOVERY-READY ENTERPRISE
This groundbreaking survey underscores the gap between the high importance corporate and law ? rm attorneys place on being prepared for discovery-while revealing the actual state of discovery readiness, identifying potential vulnerabilities and offering recommendations for improvement. It de? nes a new, enlightened path toward proactive, comprehensive preparation for discovery.
Underwritten by: Océ Business ServicesIn Pursuit of Proactive Litigation Preparedness:
The dawn of the DISCOVERY-READY ENTERPRISE
Table of Contents
3 Introduction
4 Executive Summary
5 Key Findings
14 Conclusion / Uni? ed eDiscovery Platform
16 The Discovery-Ready Enterprise De? nedIntroduction
Almost anyone engaged in litigation today is aware of the surprises that the escalating volume and complexity of electronic discovery can present. Every seasoned corporate counsel and law ? rm attorney has heard a tale about eDiscovery that has gone badly, with a disastrous impact. This can make attorneys feel as if they've been operating in the dark.
Although there is growing understanding of the need for enterprise discovery-readiness, today's eDiscovery and records governance efforts are largely reactive and limited in scope. As a result, there is a notable gap between what an organization critically needs to manage its business for discovery and what is actually being done. Underlying this lack of preparedness, we sense a curious "Russian roulette" type of risk taking. Considering over 90 percent of business documents today are created and stored electronically, and 160 to 70 percent of corporate data reside in emails or are attached to emails, a far more judicious management of enterprise records might be expected. The potential cost of inaction is measured in millions of dollars.
Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) have added new challenges to litigation readiness. The changes bring eDiscovery to the forefront of the process and make proactive, uni? ed management of records and discovery more vital than ever.
This report summarizes what was learned, from a survey of legal professionals highly experienced in eDiscovery and records management, about the current challenges, risks and costs. It de? nes a new path toward proactive preparation for discovery. It suggests adopting new processes, technologies and services. And it establishes the framework to more effectively control the time, costs and risks associated with eDiscovery.
The national online survey of corporate counsel, law ? rm attorneys and litigation support personnel was conducted in March-April 2007. The majority of participants are aware that continued inaction can seriously compromise corporate governance.
The RespondentsA total of 101 surveys were completed by legal professionals highly experienced in legal discovery and records management. The group of respondents consisted of 42 percent corporate counsel and legal department staff and 58 percent law ? rm attorneys and litigation support staff. Respondents were guaranteed absolute con? dentiality.Among the corporate respondents, 24% have annual sales revenue of $1 billion or more; 30% have annual revenue of $500 million or more. A cross-section of industries is represented including ? nancial services, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, technology, manufacturing, business services, entertainment, education and government. Among law ? rm respondents, 50% have 101 or more attorneys in their ? rm; 25% work at ? rms with more than 500 attorneys.
1National Law Journal, July 17, 2006.
© 2007 Océ 3Executive Summary
A majority of both corporate counsel and law ? rm professionals strongly agree that being prepared for legal discovery has important business bene? ts such as minimizing business disruption and controlling costs. Yet months after the new U.S. eDiscovery rules took effect, only 10% of in-house counsels consider their company very well prepared to comply with a discovery request for electronic and paper documents. More than half (55%) consider their company not well prepared. A majority strongly agree that having a records management program provides essential bene? ts, yet most of their companies do not have a fully-implemented program. Of those w... [download for more]