Annual Defensible Disposition and Data Minimization Assistance

For many years, we have assisted our client, which has consumer-facing operations in over 100 countries, with its annual disposition process.

This annual project covers both physical documents and media in off-site storage and electronically stored information (ESI) maintained in systems, applications, and other database sources.  From the beginning, the Firm has worked with the client to design its disposition processes to maximize defensibility and minimize unnecessary costs.  We continually advise the client on modifications to its processes to adapt to changes in the law and the introduction of new technologies.  This approach allows the client to reduce data security and privacy risks and lower the costs created by over-retention of information.

During each annual project cycle, our team assesses the client’s current legal hold matters against the data exports and reports from systems and applications (such as certain HR-related records, marketing records, call center data, and off-site storage destruction eligibility reports) that have been designated as eligible for disposition under the client’s record retention policy and schedules and works with in-house managing attorneys as needed to refine the scope of preservation.  Once we complete the assessment, we prepare a defensibility memorandum for each repository that describes our assessment process and outcome (i.e., what can be cleared for destruction and what must be retained for legal hold purposes).

We have also assisted this client with a broad spectrum of other issues, including: mobile device and BYOD policies and a related playbook for the collection of data from mobile devices for litigation; a playbook for the collection of video surveillance data; a defensible process for digitizing physical records for a specific department and indexing them for electronic storage (followed by disposition of the paper); advice on protecting privilege and attorney work product for communications with contractors; advice on proper use of available technologies (e.g., video conference recording, communications in Microsoft Teams) and creating guidelines for cross-border discovery issues involving the client’s non-U.S. operations.

Redgrave's work has helped our client maintain good information governance practices by implementing informed and defensible disposition efforts.