Reports offer real-world strategies for building information
governance programs and provide insights on trends affecting these
initiatives in law firms
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 29, 2013--
Law firm information managers now have a blueprint written by their
peers to create policies and processes for securing information and
making it available to clients and lawyers alike. Written by information
management professionals from top U.S. law firms, two new reports –
“Building Law Firm Information Governance: Prime Your Processes” and
“Emerging Trends in Law Firm Information Governance” – focus on how
their industry manages, secures and accesses client and firm information.
Published by Iron
Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the reports are products of a three-day
symposium held in March. They deliver practical advice on making
information governance a stronger part of day-to-day law firm operations
and provide valuable insight into three key trends affecting governance
at law firms: Big Data, the 24/7 law firm and predictive coding. The
reports are now available at programs.ironmountain.com/forms/LawFirmIGSymposiumReport
(registration required).
The reports focus on three main areas:
-
Building IG: The Information Governance Advisory Board. This
first section of the “Building Law Firm Information Governance” report
recommends steps for creating an advisory board of operational,
executive and practice-level leaders who develop information
governance principles and educate the firm on their benefits.
-
How to Build Information Governance into Key Processes. The
second section of the “Building Law Firm Information Governance”
report examines 14 everyday processes key to achieving governance,
providing definitions, advice and real-world examples for weaving
information governance into a firm’s daily operations.
-
Emerging Trends in Law Firm Information Governance. This report
identifies three of the biggest trends impacting information
management in law firms today – Big Data, the 24/7 law firm and
predictive coding on processes beyond eDiscovery.
“In the legal environment, information governance is becoming more of a
requirement than an option, especially as more clients want to know how
their information is being protected,” said
Brianne Aul
, senior manager,
Firmwide Records, Reed Smith LLP and a member of the symposium steering
committee. “Clients have very valid expectations that their outside
counsel will have policies and protocols for keeping information secure,
whether the information is in paper or electronic. That said, those
policies and protocols become even more critical as attorneys and
clients become increasingly mobile. Our hope is that this report will
provide firms a guide for building those policies and processes to make
sure information can be readily available while staying secure, a key
hallmark of information governance.”
Why Information Governance?
Information governance has
emerged as a major focus in law firms, with clients increasingly
demanding higher standards for how their law firms secure their
information and manage access to it. And they’re auditing them to ensure
firms measure up to regulatory and security requirements. Additionally,
law firms view information governance as a path to gain operational
efficiencies and control their information management costs, while
mitigating the risks of security breaches and non-compliance.
A Steering Committee of information governance thought leaders from Reed
Smith LLP; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; Morrison & Foerster LLP;
Morgan, Lewis Bockius LLP; and Greenheart Consulting Partners LLC
collaborated with Iron Mountain to plan the symposium and led
participants in work groups examining topics across information
governance. These work groups then synthesized those discussions into
the reports.
“We wanted to give law firms a practical blueprint for incorporating
information governance into their day-to-day world,” said
Carolyn Casey
,
Esq., senior manager, legal
vertical for Iron Mountain. “Last year’s report
defined information governance; this year’s makes it actionable. We’re
hopeful this report will provide law firm information managers with
strategies and tools to bring information governance into their everyday
operations, building out their processes and being prepared for what
comes next.”
Copies of the Law Firm Information Governance reports are available at programs.ironmountain.com/forms/LawFirmIGSymposiumReport
(registration required), accompanied by videos from the steering
committee discussing the three-day symposium and why information
governance is important for law firms now. And to learn more about Iron
Mountain’s solutions for Law Firms, visit www.ironmountain.com/Solutions/Law-Firms.aspx.
About Iron Mountain Incorporated
Iron Mountain Incorporated
(NYSE: IRM) is a leading provider of storage and information management
services. The company’s real estate network of over 64 million square
feet across more than 1,000 facilities in 35 countries allows it to
serve customers with speed and accuracy. And its solutions for records
management, data
backup and recovery, document
management, and secure
shredding help organizations to lower storage costs, comply with
regulations, recover from disaster, and better use their information for
business advantage. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain stores and protects
billions of information assets, including business documents, backup
tapes, electronic files and medical data. Visit www.ironmountain.com
for more information.
Source: Iron Mountain Incorporated
For Media:
Iron Mountain
Christian
T. Potts, 617-535-8721
christian.potts@ironmountain.com
or
Weber
Shandwick
Katie Traut, 617-520-7135
ktraut@webershandwick.com