Protechnica

Jeffrey Rabkin All Articles  The Recorder  February 14, 2012

Welcome to 2012: Cybercrime is on the rise, and if data breaches, theft of proprietary information, hacking, and malware incidents cannot yet be said to have become routine, they can hardly be considered unexpected. These problems are driven by exponential advances in computer technology, the explosion of data, the increase in its value on the black market, and the eye-popping storage capacity of small, inexpensive digital devices.

Recently, federal law enforcement officials have been quietly visiting major law firms to explain they may be vulnerable, which makes sense given the confidential nature of the data law firms store on their information technology systems. Such warnings are underscored by recent headlines. For example, on Jan. 31 Bloomberg reported that in 2010, Chinese-based hackers infiltrated the networks of at least seven different Canadian law firms, as well as Canadian government agencies. At this point, it’s fair to say that firms that fail to implement thoughtful and appropriate cybersecurity measures may well be held to answer in the wake of a serious data breach incident. While each law firm faces its own unique cybersecurity challenges, there are certain steps that all firms should take this year to reduce their cyber-risk.<READ MORE>

Anne Kershaw All Articles  Law Technology News  February 9, 2012

Legacy data (backup tapes, file shares, personal storage tables, and other storage media) when kept indefinitely has no value or purpose. But it can create expensive havoc and costs that can be avoided if the data is properly managed — and destroyed when business and legal retention requirements expire.

Even ignoring electronic data discovery costs, the cumulative infrastructure and operational costs of hoarding data and data media are enormous. Many organizations have hundreds of thousands of unneeded tapes and terabytes of electronic files that have not been looked at in years, incurring significant backup, maintenance, and storage costs.

Business executives and lawyers worry that the data might contain information that is subject to a legal hold or be relevant to some existing or future litigation — and that its destruction could be second-guessed by adversaries and courts, resulting in spoliation sanctions. So it’s not surprising that so many are reluctant to say, “Throw it out.” <READ MORE>

Dalton Young All Articles Texas Lawyer  February 1, 2012

Counsel who needs to assemble a large document-review team or hire an outside group to do so must tread carefully. Doing so requires taking responsibility for what’s often the biggest cost-center in modern-day litigation. Legal budgets are tighter than they have been in years, so it’s important to make every day and every dollar count. The attorney’s first priority should be avoiding the most common pitfalls. Here’s a quick guide to the seven (easily avoidable) sins of document review: <READ MORE>