Top Six Tech Issues of 2012 for In-House Counsel

Article by Catherine Dunn, Law Technology News











Adam Losey Attorney for Foley & Lardner talks about the Top 6 Tech isues from 2012:

1. THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY-ASSISTED REVIEW AND PREDICTIVE CODING
The first case law on this issue emerged this year, with courts in New York, Virginia, and Louisiana greenlighting the application of computer analytics to discovery. And given how much money companies "waste" on discovery, says Losey, "it's really important to figure out ways to harness technology to do that better."

2. PRESERVATION AS A PRIORITY
Data preservation will only continue to come under the microscope, says Losey. He recommends that in-house counsel implement a document-retention policy that spells out procedures for collecting and preserving email and other documents when a lawsuit hits. He also cautions counsel to be consistent; if you use multiple firms to handle preservation, differing methods could lead to inconsistences.

3. EVOLUTION OF STATE RULES AND E-DISCOVERY PROTOCOLS IN DIFFERENT CIRCUITS AND DISTRICTS
"Local jurisdictions and some states are adopting new rules to deal with e-discovery issues," explains Losey. His advice: "Make sure that the people you hire are really up to speed on this — or else they could wind up really losing badly."

4. GENERAL.AWARENESS OF PRIVACY ISSUES AND STATUTES
There are plenty of potential blind spots when it comes to the many state and federal laws governing privacy. "If you're a company of any size, and you don’t have someone looking out for you on the privacy front proactively, you run a very serious risk of stepping on a landmine,” Losey says.

5. CYBERSECURITY AND DATA BREACHES
Frankly, most companies are terrible about digital security, because it's difficult to be secure," says Losey. One way companies can be vigilant is by hiring experts to test your network security. Losey also recommends opening up lines of communication between the legal department, and the IT department — including to those "who do the day-to-day grunt work," he says, since a crisis is no time to be making introductions between tech and legal. "If there's a data breach, it's the kind of thing that should come to the attention of in-house counsel."

6. THE BUSINESS AND LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is presenting companies with a number of thorny legal and business issues — and companies shouldn't ignore the cyber-chatter. "It's a good idea for a company to proactively be looking online," says Losey. "What's out there? What are people posting about you?"On the business front, use the social media tools available to you to address negative comments. "A lot of companies do a really good job with that," says Losey. "But you don't want to not be aware that there's all kinds of bad press about you lingering, and you haven't taken an opportunity to respond."
In the legal domain of social media, keep an eye out for things like leaking of trade secrets — which could end up on an employee blog — and IP infringement happening via Facebook, Twitter, and the like. "If you're keeping general track of what's out there about your company, you're going to find out if someone's using your trademark," says Losey. "You're going to see if people are violating your copyright. And that's really important to know so you can stop it."