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multi-disciplinary team involving legal, IT, and information security. Bell has a permanent e-discovery committee that reviews, manages, and makes decisions about e-discovery-related infrastruc- ture and policy. It can also very quickly put together ad hoc teams to manage particular cases with some of the same personnel plus additional IT resources where needed. Establishing a multi-disciplinary team is an essential step in bringing e-discov- ery in-house, says Jaar. He would add representation from other departments as well. Human resources should be there because litigation often involves employees no longer with the company or no longer in the same position or location and HR can provide informa- tion about them. Corporate communi- cations should be involved because it can help manage communicating with employees about the case. And account- ing should be there so financial manage- ment in the company learns first-hand about the long-term economic benefits of insourcing e-discovery. Including information security if it's a separate department from IT — usually only in large companies like Bell — makes sense because many have sophisticated search tools for computer forensic work that could be used in the e-discovery process as well. "Legal and IT may not even be aware they have these tools," says Jaar. "They're often used under the radar by security." Bringing such a diverse group togeth- er can be fraught with problems. "There's often a lot of contention at first, espe- cially between legal and IT," says Jaar. "They're two groups that in many ways do not share the same language." Both are typically stretched thin. IT is apt to see legal as too demanding. Legal is like- ly frustrated by IT's perceived tendency to say no to almost any request. But once the two groups start working together, IT discovers that what legal is asking for in e-discovery is not quite as onerous as at first appeared. And when they see the real economics involved, they better understand the business imperative to insource. IT and legal often begin to bond ntitled-1 1 The kind of can we're used to opening. With millions of documents to sort and review, e-discovery can be mucky business. At Wortzman Nickle we have an uncanny way of making the process fast, efficient and cost effective. Our legal team will ensure you have defensible policies and protocols in place so you're not on the hook should the prospect of litigation arise. For more information contact Susan Wortzman, swortzman@wnpclaw.com 416-642-9025 or Susan Nickle, snickle@wnpclaw.com 416-642-9026. over a shared recognition of the need for better information management, says Jaar. It affects e-discovery costs but also ongoing IT management costs, so the two groups end up joining forces to lobby for funding of information- management projects. "That's normally where IT and legal start to love each other," Jaar says. Information management, as he continually stresses, is also where the whole process of e-discovery insourc- ing has to start. If your company isn't already looking at ways to improve information management, says Jaar, it should be starting now. Gerry Blackwell is a freelance technology writer based in London, Ont. Read his blog at http://afterbyte.blogspot.com. Canada's First e-Discovery Law Firm www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JUNE 2010 27 5/14/10 9:59:17 AM