Dennis Kennedy

If you've ever heard me speak about electronic discovery, you know that I always suggest that EDD is a small piece in a much larger puzzle or records management and compliance, and that others, especially other professional service providers, do not place the same emphasis and priority on EDD that lawyers do. I also conclude that there's something lawyers can learn by viewing EDD in that larger context and through the eyes of others.

Here's an excellent example. Take a look at this article on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants list of Top Technology Initiatives for 2007. It's interesting to compare this list to my recent article on legal technology trends for 2007 (although, in fairness, I was trying to make a realistic trends that would actually happen, not an aspirational list of what should happen).

Information security tops the list (for the fifth straight year), and my search of the article finds not even one mention of electronic discovery.

However, and this is the key message, the list includes no less than five items that are part of the bigger records management framework into which electronic discovery fits: compliance, IT governance, controlling information distribution, archiving and retention, and content management.

EDD is a big issue, but it's only part of a huge set of issues. The legal profession needs to take that they see the whole forest and not just the electronic discovery trees.

The AICPA list gives an instructive look at another perspective and, as such, I recommend it to your attention.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Learn more about electronic discovery at Dennis Kennedy's Electronic Discovery Resources page.

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