EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - Even just a few years ago, lawyers in corporate lawsuits sometimes agreed not to poke around in their opponents' e-mails. Instead they'd confine themselves to paper memos and other documents on file as they pursued evidence.
Now, however, with so much work done via e-mail, instant messaging and other online platforms, "nothing's in the file cabinets anymore," said Michele Lange, staff attorney for legal technologies at Kroll Ontrack Inc.
... But several factors — including the inexpensive abundance of data storage, high-profile lawsuits and strict new laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley that demand thorough corporate archiving — are making electronic discovery a lucrative and competitive slice of information technology.
The overall market is worth close to $2 billion and growing at about 35 percent a year, says Michael Clark, who analyzes the field at EDDix LLC. The number of companies offering computer-related evidence gathering appears to have doubled in the past two or three years, with several hundred now hanging a shingle.
In Washington, DC we have understood the crucial role of records management ever since the Iran/Contra scandal and the now infamous emails between Oliver North and Robert McFarlane. One would have thought the corporate world would have caught on after the Microsoft antitrust case and the role email played in the trial. It seems many are just now catching on.
If you don’t have a records management strategy, you will definitely want to attend the NCC AIIM educational seminar.
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