[Ctd] Jeff Galen - New Book And Toolkit Equip Organizations For The New Challenges Of Legal E-Discovery

[paul.kholer paul.kholer]

New Book And Toolkit Equip Organizations For The New Challenges Of Legal
E-Discovery


Under the recently amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure organizations
face tough new requirements for preserving their electronically stored
information, such as email and word-processing documents, so that it can
swiftly be produced in the event of a lawsuit. However, research reveals
that, while such legal demands are common for larger organizations, very few
are ready for these new E-Discovery rules, leaving the majority open to
costly fines and adverse rulings. To help corporations adapt to the new
requirements top infosecurity publisher IT Governance Limited has launched
'E-Discovery and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure' as the latest in its
series of Practical IT Governance pocket guides.

 'E-Discovery and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure' is written in
recognition that larger organizations are highly likely to face E-Discovery
requests. According to ESG Research, 91 percent of organizations with over
20,000 employees have been through an E-Discovery event in the past 12
months. However, a recent survey of corporate attorneys by Pike and Fisher
revealed that only 7 percent feel that their companies are ready to meet
these new requirements.

 In response, IT Governance Limited recruited Bradley J Schaufenbuel, senior
manager in IT Risk and Security at Zurich Financial Services in Illinois, to
write this concise expert guide to the new rules. Over 68 pages, he provides
an easily absorbed account of the background and details of the new rules
and explains what organizations must do immediately to ready themselves for
possible future lawsuits.

 In particular, Schaufenbuel addresses the tight timeframes in which
electronic information must now be gathered and presented to opposing
counsel, and how this in turn demands a far more rigorous and strategic
methodology for storing corporate information on an ongoing basis. It
highlights the stark truth that in the eyes of the court 'ignorance is no
longer bliss' and that organizations are expected to be able to retrieve
electronic information as needed. It also discusses the new
multi-disciplinary approach that must be adopted to comply with these
demands, drawing in personnel from record management, IT, compliance and
legal, to ensure that a comprehensive compliance framework is developed.

 A failure to adequately provide electronic information in response to a
discovery request can prove extremely costly. Severe consequences can
include a judge instructing a jury to assume that missing evidence would
have been 'adverse' to the party failing to provide it. In a recent sexual
discrimination lawsuit such an instruction led to banking group UBS having
to pay $29 million to a former employee, whereas in Coleman vs Morgan
Stanley a similar event saw billionaire Ronald Perelman awarded $1.45
billion against Morgan Stanley. Heavy fines and penalties may also be levied
by the court, which in the case of Serra Chevrolet vs General Motors were as
high as $50,000 per day for a late response to a discovery request.

 'E-Discovery and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure' is priced at $29.95
and is available from IT Governance Limited in softback hard copy and may be
ordered for shipping  <http://www.27001.com/products/48>. Alternatively, an
e-book version may be purchased for immediate download
<http://www.27001.com/products/49>.


 To complement and enhance this new pocket guide, IT Governance Limited has
also released an E-Discovery toolkit. This contains a comprehensive suite of
policies, checklists and templates that address all the steps an
organization must take prior to, during and between E-Discovery events.
Purchasers of this toolkit will also benefit from IT Governance's unique
drafting support service and 12 months of automatic updates that ensure they
benefit from the latest information and practices in this area.

 Alan Calder, chief executive of publisher IT Governance Limited, said,
"Bradley Schaufenbuel has produced an invaluable and extremely timely book
that stands to save millions for businesses based or operating in the United
States. Lawsuits are a fact of life in US commerce and the new rules on
E-Discovery place far more exacting demands on how organizations must manage
their electronic information. A failure to comply with these new demands can
swiftly result in multi-million dollar fines and damages, so there is simply
no option but for businesses to prepare adequately."

 NOTES TO EDITORS

 IT Governance Ltd is the one-stop-shop for information security books,
tools, training and consultancy. It approaches infosec issues from a
non-technology background and talks to management in its own language. Its
customer base spans Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia.

 Bradley J Schaufenbuel, CISSP, CISM is Senior Manager of IT Risk and
Security at Zurich Financial Services in Illinois. Prior to his current
role, he held security leadership positions at Experian and Arthur Andersen.
Bradley has co-authored several books and has had articles published in
professional journals on a variety of topics related to IT security and
governance. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from DePaul
University and is currently pursuing a Juris Doctorate degree in IT law from
the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

 Alan Calder is an international authority on information security
management. He led the world's first successful implementation of BS 7799,
the information security management standard upon which ISO 27001 is based,
and wrote the definitive compliance guide for this standard, 'IT Governance:
A Manager's Guide to Data Security and BS7799/ISO17799'. The 3rd edition of
this book is the basis for the UK Open University's postgraduate course on
Information Security. He is a consultant to companies including
Cisco.<http://alancalder.blogspot.com/>

 'Electronically Stored Information': The Conference of Chief Justices
defines ESI as follows: 'Electronically stored information is any
information created, stored, or best utilized with computer technology of
any type. It includes but is not limited to data; word processing documents;
spreadsheets; presentation documents; graphics; animations; images; e-mail
and instant messages (including attachments); audio, video and audiovisual
recordings; voicemail stored on databases; networks; computers and computer
systems; servers; archives; back-up or disaster recovery systems; discs,
CDs, diskettes, drives, tapes cartridges and other storage media; printers;
the Internet; personal digital assistants; handheld wireless devices;
cellular telephones; pagers; fax machines; and voicemail systems.' ESI can
also include non-apparent information, or metadata, that describes the
context of the information.

Jeff Galen
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