Legally Defensible Retention Policy Consulting

The interrelationship between electronic discovery and the retention & destruction of electronic records is inherent to any business, agency or institution that may be subject to audit, investigation, litigation or alternative dispute resolution.  Our interdisciplinary team approach combines the efforts of experienced tech-savvy litigators with Information Technology (IT) and Records & Information Management (RIM) professionals.

The services offered to our clients include:

• Confidential initial consultation - the touchstone of a document retention policy is whether it is legally defensible; policy development should start with a clear assessment of the organization's legal risk; discussions with a lawyer concerning legal matters are privileged communications. Carefully consider whether a consulting vendor NDA offers enough protection.

• Document Retention Policy Evaluation - in conjunction with IT and RIM experts, perform assessment/audit of organizational policies, protocols and practices regarding creation, use, storage and destruction of documents and records to identify weaknesses, gaps and litigation risks

• Document Retention Policy Development - team approach to development of legally defensible organization-wide document retention / destruction policies and protocols based on industry standards, best practices and current law; IRS Form 990 now requires disclosure regarding nonprofit organizations' Document Retention Policies

• Litigation Readiness - assessment of existing protocols for response to audit, investigation, litigation and arbitration; creation of litigation readiness committees in advance of claims

• Litigation Hold - review, analysis or preparation of legal hold policies and protocols for specific claims or as part of a preventative strategy

• Vendor Selection - provide assistance in selection of vendors for litigation support, forensics and processing of ESI; advice on contracting with all vendors who are in possession, custody and control of organizational data or records for compliance with Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 and similar laws (e.g., GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act) that require protection of Personal Information (PI, PII) or other protected data

• Training - best practices for managing electronic records, legal hold and litigation readiness training; provide Information Security Program employee training required by Massachusetts information security regulations, 201 CMR 17.00 and the FTC Red Flags Rule; confidential technical training and "fire drills" available on live client data to develop in-house expertise in the application of litigation holds to electronic storage and records retention systems; litigation readiness programs and training.

We provide comprehensive assessment and policy development services to organizations including public and private corporations, municipalities, government agencies and educational institutions regarding legally defensible approaches to document retention policies, litigation holds, email & unstructured data storage, litigation readiness and information security programs.  Our approach to these issues is to identify and apply industry standards and best practices combined with an ongoing study of the evolving case law.

We work with our clients to take advantage of internal resources and team with very capable IT and RIM professionals to supplement client resources and deliver efficient, competent and cost-effective services.  We have experience in handling the most complex matters, including those involving millions of electronic documents and terabytes of data.