A big welcome to Clearwell, customers, partners and employees!  Today, Clearwell Systems, a leader in eDiscovery, is now part of Symantec.  This means our two teams are officially working together to provide both Clearwell and Symantec customers exceptional end-to-end information management solutions spanning archiving, backup and eDiscovery.

We have already begun work on more robust integration between Clearwell and Enterprise Vault.  Our goal is to provide Symantec customers access to enhanced eDiscovery functionality and Clearwell customers access to a broader set of integrated information management solutions from one vendor – Symantec. Together we will help customers:

• Reduce costs across all phases represented in the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, from information management through review and production
• Reduce risk by improving the defensibility and repeatability of their archiving and eDiscovery processes
• ...

The eDiscovery frenzy that has gripped the American legal system over the past decade has largely eluded our European counterparts.  This is due in large part to the broad and fastidious protections of European privacy laws.  Another reason is found in Europe’s narrower discovery rules, which forbid categorical document requests authorized by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.  The result is that many companies that operate in Europe may feel insulated from the need to implement eDiscovery-related information governance procedures.

Having a laissez-faire attitude toward information governance is troubling enough.  But taking no action to prepare for eDiscovery is worse.  That is especially the case for companies operating in Europe that maintain offices in the United States.  They may unwittingly fall into an “American style” discovery trap for unsuspecting litigants in foreign proceedings.  That discovery trap is 28 U....

Today's news about the consumer data security breach at Citigroup underscores the need for a secure cloud offering.  Citigroup acknowledged today that hackers had penetrated its systems, exposing sensitive data regarding credit card customers.  http://nyti.ms/lZeLBM

Regardless of which systems were hacked, this news supports the need for companies to closely scrutinize cloud offerings for their data storage.  It is not enough for a cloud provider to offer cheap and unlimited storage.  Companies must satisfy themselves that appropriate security measures are in place when data is transferred and stored in the cloud.  Otherwise, sensitive business and consumer information could be subject to disclosure and misuse.

Proper safekeeping measures should include an encryption protocol that provides security for data transfers to and from the cloud.  Multi-layered firewalls that prevent unauthorized access to...

I was fortunate enough this week to have Symantec  send me to the 11thAnnual Superconference in Chicago at the Fairmont.  All sessions I attended were useful, but one of most important was the Judicial Panel on eDiscovery.  The Judges were: Flynn, Francis, Nolan and Waxse with Patrick Oot of the SEC as the moderator.  It is always beneficial to get into the minds of the judges who lead in eDiscovery.  It is especially important to me because many of our Symantec customers ask when purchasing or deploying our eDiscovery suite, “Does this software have court approval?”

The quick answer to that question is “No,” because in general, courts are not in the business of approving technology.  The other way to answer the question is, “Yes,” because our products have never been disapproved either.  Judges prefer that parties reach agreement themselves on scope, search terms, formats and search methodologies. ...