If you're using cloud based services, you need to be aware of some of the legal considerations. Here is how the discovery process could be affected if you use cloud based storage.
If your company becomes involved in a lawsuit, the normal e-discoveryprocess would be that your counsel would contact your IT department to find some of the needed data. If you would have the entire data stored in your own data center, the process would usually be straightforward. However, an increasing number of companies are now using third party cloud computing solutions. There are some definite advantages to using cloud storage for some of your data. Cloud based solutions may be less expensive than upgrading your own data center, plus they also tend to be very flexible, in the sense that they can be scaled up or down depending on your needs. Furthermore, now that the industry has really gotten off the ground, there is no shortage of cloud based solutions providers, both large and small. However, companies would also need to be aware of the legal ramifications of keeping their data with a third party vendor.
Depending on how you do business with your cloud vendor, you may not know exactly where all your data is stored. Even in that case, you would need to make sure that the information remains accessible to you at all times, can be presented in the right format and that it can be presented in court in a timely manner. Another issue is controlling access to the data. This is because the opposing attorneys can also subpoena your cloud provider. For this reason, you should have a contract with your provider that allows you to choose what happens if they get a subpoena for the data.
There are several ways that electronic discovery can be handled on the cloud as well. One of the most powerful ones is Software as a Service based e-Discovery. This means using cloud based solutions to handle all of the electronic discovery related tasks, such as collecting documents, preserving them, as well as reviewing them.
There are also some hosted e-discovery solutions available from certain providers. In this case, the client has a contract with the provider which stipulates that the vendor will do the necessary discovery tasks, such as locating them and preserving them from any changes should a company be involved in a civil lawsuit. In any case, experts recommend that companies that use cloud based services have an electronic discovery strategy in place. This will simplify the process of finding the right documents on time and will assure that a company will always be ready should they need to turn them over during the course of civil litigation.
Under Aged Killers Get Life
The Supreme Court just ruled on two juvenile murder cases that are likely to set major precedents for young convicted murderers going forward. In a decision opposed by the conservative side of the court, the Supreme Court voted to allow both boys, now men serving time, the possibility of parole for their crimes. There are a few justices, and states, who are not happy about it.
Plaintiffs Pay the Tab in Netflix Case
Costs associated with the electronic discoveryprocess have increased as companies rely more on electronic storage for documents and records. The protocol in lawsuits was that defendants had to cover the cost of e-discovery on their own—until now. Netflix recently was awarded a large restitution for e-discovery, a landmark decision.
A Definition of eDiscovery
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