Compliance concerns are information governance concerns
With their increased focus on managing risk, compliance and environmental concerns, businesses are placing greater importance on accreditations. In addition to adopting new standards and protocols, they expect their partners to adhere to the same credentials. One way or another, every organisation is part of a supply chain – including law firms – and is subject to these expectations.
With this requirement to demonstrate a commitment to security and compliance, firms are becoming more prescriptive in the delivery of legal services. This includes adherence to their own information governance policies, as well as compliance with outside counsel guidelines, as lawyers increasingly realise the risks associated with failing to comply.
The volume of information created and stored today is enormous, and law firms are often not sure of what they have. This creates real challenges for firms still using outdated records management software
Costs are escalating for storage of both electronic and physical records, as are the risks of data being subject to disclosure when firms cannot demonstrate the consistent application of retention policies. Moreover, organisations are conducting detailed audits of their contracted law firms to ensure guidelines are followed, and an audit failure may have far-reaching consequences.
The volume of information created and stored today is enormous, and law firms are often not sure of what they have. This creates real challenges for firms still using outdated records management software. Even worse, these legacy systems have never included even the most basic information governance (IG) function of applying retention policies against physical records and electronic documents.
Compliance with new client governance protocols threatens to overwhelm firm resources, massively reduce productivity, negatively impact reputations and undermine long-term profitability.
The solution is automation.
Records management is a defining pillar of effective IG because the goal is to efficiently manage and track all records – both physical and electronic – in every repository. Ideally, managing retention policies and disposition reviews should be done once, within a single solution through a transparent and automated process. Retention policies should be granular enough to apply any variations from a client’s guidelines to the correct documents, and all steps in the process should be automated so that nothing falls through the cracks. Most importantly, audit trails and reporting must be able to easily document compliance for every matter, for all records and documents across all repositories.
A law firm’s best strategy for IG success is to implement a modern, holistic solution that automates the application of governance policy throughout a document’s lifecycle – from creation through to destruction, regardless of the data type. This will help achieve greater compliance and secure the firm’s position as a credible partner in its clients’ supply chains.
For further information, visit: filetrail.com/governance
Contact Jon Roscow at sales@filetrail.com
