Lawsuits increasingly involve electronic records. Businesses may be required to preserve electronic records by statute or regulation or when they relate to anticipated litigation. Beyond these restrictions, however, companies are generally free to keep or destroy information on a cost/benefit basis. This freedom provides a significant opportunity to manage risks and reduce costs through a records management program. Litigation expenses and risks associated with unmanaged record accumulation include increased costs to preserve and capture evidence, increased cost of attorney review of records for responsiveness and privilege, increased risk of sanctions for failure to preserve, locate and/or produce relevant records, and increased risk of bad litigation results due to “bad” records.

Article authored by McAfee & Taft attorney: Drew D. Webb.

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