For corporate
lawyers and company administrators, the importance of getting to
grips with electronic evidence, digital
documents and
associated discovery issues
has become paramount
in the 21st century legal and corporate environment.
Over
the last 10 years we have noticed a
paradigm shift as to what constitutes legally
admissible document. Documents, as a
specie of evidence now includes computer
files and digitally generated data like
emails, voice mails and intangible data
like the contents of the computer random
access memory. More
importantly, these new forms of
documentary evidence are now
discoverable in legal proceedings.Given
the complex and sometimes volatile
nature of electronic evidence, the
extraction, preservation and
presentation can present real challenges
in today's corporate environment.
Apart from the
obvious technical challenges faced by
the corporate counsel, there is the
attendant legal mine field to navigate
when dealing with digital evidence;
there is the data protection hurdle, the
task of formulating
electronic data protocols and ensuring
compliance with regulatory demands.
Additional burden will come in the form
of strategising for case
management conferences on matters
concerning digital document discovery
request or response, scoping
internal investigators
authority, managing the legal
implications of a computer incident
within the organisation and a host of
other issues that are now deemed the
forte of the corporate counsel and
corporate administrator.
The corporate counsel is the point of
reference for advice on how a company
should proceed with legal iT
related issues. But very often,
corporate lawyers are not trained
in the demands of electronic discovery,
digital evidence and compliance
legislations as they affect information
technology.
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In the realm of computer and electronic
evidence early preparation cannot be
overemphasised; for some strategic
procedures time is of the essence;
mistakes made at the pre trial
stage, and during
investigation can be very costly and
damaging to subsequent proceedings
during trial or arbitration.
Prompt response and attention to
detail should form the bases for a
digital evidence protocol. Recent
court decisions around the world have
shown that a procedural issue concerning
production of digital evidence can lead to court imposed fines
running into millions of dollars and
adverse jury instructions.
How can we
help ?
At a bare minimum,
the corporate lawyer should be conversant with the
terminologies and nomenclature
associated with computers and
computer Networks - the details
and the inner workings can be
left to the expert.
A corporate lawyer must be
equipped to initiate and
implement information
technology protocols within
their organisation and the need
to proactively prepare for
electronic document collation
and discovery.
In the 21st century, corporate
goals cannot be isolated from
the wider demands of information
technology.
To attain this 21 century goal,
Corporate lawyers should, as a
deliberate policy undergo
training on various subjects
touching on electronic document
and computer forensic evidence.
Contact us
on how we can assist your
organisation. |
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