E-Discovery and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Any organization based or operating in the United States needs to be prepared for possible lawsuits. Under the recently amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure organizations face tough new requirements for preserving their electronically stored information, such as email and word-processingdocuments, so that it can swiftly be produced in the event of a lawsuit. However, even though legal demands are common for larger organizations, it appears that very few are ready for these new E-Discovery rules, leaving the majority open to costly fines and adverse rulings.

According to ESG Research, 91 percent of organizations with over 20,000 employees have been through an E-Discovery event in the past 12 months. However, amazingly, a recent survey of corporate attorneys by Pike and Fisher revealed that only 7 percent feel that their companies are ready to meet these new requirements.

Therefore, to help corporations adapt to the new requirements, we called on Bradley J Schaufenbuel, senior manager in IT Risk and Security at Zurich Financial Services in Illinois, to write ‘E-Discovery and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’ as the latest in our series of Practical IT Governance pocketguides. Over 68 pages, he provides an easily absorbed account of the background and detailsof the new rules and explains what organizations must do immediately to ready themselves for possible future lawsuits. It’s a must for any US organization preparing for the stark realities of life.The book is priced at $29.95 and in softback hard copy and may be ordered for shipping here; alternatively, an e-book version may be purchased for immediate download here.