Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
that.preserves.its.integrity.as.we.discussed.in.Chapter.5..Now.
you.understand.better.how.all.of.this.works.together.(and.why.
you.need.to.read.all.of.those.chapters!).
Acquisition.is.the.irst.part.of.the.production.process.and.
should.result.in.a.smaller.part.of.the.pie..In.this.irst.step,.you.
will. be. painting. with. a. broad. brush. and. acquiring. anything.
that.might.possibly.be.relevant..As.we.saw.in.our.look.at.case.
law.and.the.rules.of.court.procedures.in.Chapter.1,.the.courts.
require.that.you.preserve.anything.and.everything.that.might.
be.relevant.
If.you.have.done.a.good.job.of.organizing.and.have.fol-
lowed.your.records.retention.rules,.you.should.have.a.pretty.
good.handle.on.what.that.subset.will.consist.of.and.how.to.
gather.and.preserve.it.
An. important. point. that. we. made. earlier. needs. to. be.
restated.here..Your.ability.to.preserve.the.required.data.is.often.
predetermined.by.your.or.your.organization's.actual.records.
management.practices..A.court.or.auditor.will.be.looking.at.
those.practices.and.not.at.any.written.policies.or.procedures.
The.fact.that.you.have.well-documented.records.manage-
ment. rules. means. nothing. if. your. employees. either. do. not.
know.about.them.or.have.not.been.following.them..A.great.
example.of.this.is.a.case.where.an.organization.claimed.that.
their.e-mail.destruction.policies.were.the.reason.that.certain.
important.and.relevant.e-mails.were.deleted.before.they.could.
be. preserved.. In. deposition,. an. administrator. testiied. that.
the. organization. had. never. followed. those. destruction. poli-
cies.until.the.day.after.they.were.served.with.notice.of.litiga-
tion..Needless.to.say,.that.did.not.ly.well.with.the.court,.and.
the.organization.(and.their.attorneys).was.slapped.with.heavy.
sanctions.for.spoliation.of.evidence.
Once.you.have.carefully.acquired.and.preserved.the.evi-
dence,.the.next.step.will.be.the.review.of.the.evidence..This.
is.often.done.by.paralegals.if.it.is.a.legal.matter..Their.job.is.to.
sift.through.all.of.the.preserved.data.with.the.facts.of.the.case.
in.mind.and.winnow.out.the.actual.relevant.evidence..One.
way.this.can.be.done.is.by.searching.through.the.preserved.
