成人VR视频

ORLANDO, Fla. 鈥斅營ncreasingly, law firms of all sizes have started to come around to understanding the business opportunities of their data and the importance of effectively governing that data. After all, according to the 成人VR视频 Institute鈥檚 2023 Digital Strategy Report, 83% of firms say that digital transformation is highly important or central to the firm鈥檚 strategy, and 54% currently have a defined digital strategy at the C-suite level.

As a result, it鈥檚 perhaps not surprising that many mid-size and large law firms now have dedicated information governance (IG) policies in place. For many firms, however, the issue comes with taking the next step: What do we actually do with our IG policy to help guide the firm?

A session at the聽 titled, You have an IG policy in place, now how do you manage compliance? looked to help answer that key question. The five law firm panelists, all members of a group known as the Law Firm Information Governance Symposium that has developed on the subject, noted that while many firms may pay lip service to IG concepts, a functioning program can take a lot of hard work.

鈥淚n my career, IG is sometimes not so easy to accomplish,鈥� said Leigh Isaacs, Senior Director of Information Governance at .

Achieving buy-in with communication

Jill Sterbakov, Information Governance Compliance Attorney at , said she often gets the question of how often a traditional records room can transform into a modern information governance team. She estimates that 鈥渋f you can secure the buy-in you need, the resources you need, in a large firm it should take about 3-5 years to develop an advanced program,鈥� but that鈥檚 with one caveat: It requires full-firm buy-in.

鈥淵ou need to sell before you can build,鈥� Sterbakov added, noting that this doesn鈥檛 just mean going to GCs or managing partners for leadership input. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e walking into an organization and you鈥檙e building an IG program, you really need to go to the practice group leaders and sell to them.鈥�

Isaacs agreed, noting that data professionals need to 鈥渦nderstand the culture and politics of the firm so you really know where to start.鈥� She said that being a good listener is an underrated key skill. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 taking a position where I鈥檓 coming in and telling you what medicine to take because it鈥檚 good for you, I might get some resistance to that,鈥� she explained.

This means that all proper IG plans should include both two-way communication and a proper information program around the firm鈥檚 information governance goals. Karen Allen, Information Governance Manager at , called this the 鈥渦ser education鈥� portion. 鈥淚 try to avoid the word training because when you say training, people run and hide,鈥� Allen said, adding that this education around proper IG etiquette should be baked into every interaction. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not one and done, [or] a once-a-year type of thing.鈥�

In fact, law firm IG professionals should think outside the box about ways to get this training across, she explained. In one conversation, she noted, she brought actual Legos into the office to illustrate a point about how cloud architecture works.

Sterbakov also added that the firm鈥檚 internal calendar has become her friend. 鈥淚 can see, oh the Philadelphia L&E group is meeting on March 3. So, I can go to the practice group leader and say, can I grab five minutes of that meeting?鈥�

Technology and obligations

Panel moderator Michele Gossmeyer, Global Director, Information Governance, Risk and Compliance at , noted that law firms can鈥檛 lead with technology 鈥� it鈥檚 people and processes that need to drive technology鈥檚 use. That said, the panel agreed that the technology is an important component to making sure an IG program runs smoothly.

That鈥檚 why one of her most crucial relationships within the firm is with its IT team, Allen said, citing an example from her previous firm of building a dashboard with the IT staff to identify where data lived on employees鈥� computers. The dashboard allowed her to identify potential governance problems, such as: 鈥淚 have a senior partner who has 40 gigs on my documents on their desktop and 12 documents in the DMS.鈥�

That visibility was only possible with the technology and collaborative efforts with IT, Allen said. 鈥淭hey know where a lot of the stuff is, even if they don鈥檛 know why it鈥檚 important to us.鈥�

Isaacs agreed, saying that she even brought IT into her IG education efforts, adding that 鈥渘ow we鈥檝e got a nice cross-section of training.鈥�

Data maps and visibility into data usage that technology provides can provide ammo in tough conversations with leadership, Sterbakov of Morgan Lewis said, citing, for example, that it鈥檚 鈥渘ot just this one guy [putting things on C-drive] but 50% of the firm is doing this.鈥� She added that people 鈥渁lways think they鈥檙e a unique situation鈥� to get away with non-compliance but explaining the importance of compliance with 鈥渢his is what we鈥檙e telling our clients and our insurer鈥� can help get them back on track.

Indeed, the panelists pointed to data compliance requirements within outside counsel guidelines (OCGs) as a periodic burden, but also as a potential weapon for enforcing IG policies. James Merrifield, Director of Information Governance & Business Intake at , touts OCGs as a way to drive buy-in, 鈥渂ecause now it鈥檚 not just important to the firm, but to the client.鈥�

Sterbakov noted she reads every OCG that comes into the firm 鈥渁nd they鈥檙e getting more and more sophisticated what they鈥檙e asking to do. [And] if we accept those outside counsel guidelines, we鈥檙e telling them we鈥檙e doing that.鈥�

Sound overwhelming? It certainly can be, especially as data governance technology is still continuing to evolve. But Merrifield said his key to satisfying disparate IG requirements within OCGs is to start small, perhaps by taking the firm鈥檚 largest 20 clients and certifying those requirements are satisfied first before building out.

Indeed, taking the next step in IG can potentially difficult, especially for those firms without ample technology or staffing resources. But Wiley鈥檚 Allen 鈥� herself the sole person fully responsible for IG within her firm 鈥� said data and records professionals shouldn鈥檛 be afraid to ask for help. 鈥淚 have tentacles everywhere else that can help me get done what I need to get done,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven as a party of one, that doesn鈥檛 mean you can鈥檛 staff your program.鈥�