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CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE SEPTEMBER 2015
to locate missing e-mails
from its own records and
the personal e-mails of former
secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
"Ensuring organizations have strong in-
formation governance, along with employ-
ing more proactive e-discovery policies and
methodologies, reduces the risk of inadver-
tently losing or missing important informa-
tion, which often serves to build disclosure
credibility and defensibility," says Wilks.
"When organizations are able to pro-
actively identify information and disclo-
sure challenges, they're more likely to get
the benefi t of the doubt," he adds.
The collection piece of e-discovery, while
fraught with risk, can actually be done
inexpensively, says Millar. "A custodian
interview only needs to take half an hour.
If you have 20 custodian interviews, that
shouldn't be more than 15 hours," she
says. "If I were in-house counsel, I think it
would make sense to focus on ensuring your
external counsel reduces costs during the
processing and review piece."
The key, Millar says, is learning as much
as possible about the e-discovery process
before deciding to do any part of it in-house.
Wilks suggests companies get an external
"second pair of eyes to review their process"
to ensure what they're doing is compliant
with the requests they've received.
"Because the landscape is changing
quickly, getting a second opinion or others
involved is important," he adds.
At Bell Canada, what makes the e-discovery
If you feel you've got a strong process
but you do miss something, the
inference is one that you may be trying
to hide something or you may run into issues
of spoliation.
LLOYD WILKS, Counsel Quest Inc.
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