Information Management

This morning I had a first in my new job here in Indiana.  I had to present as part of our world-wide attorney call.  To put it in perspective, once a month, we have an hour and a half call with all 100+ legal personnel to discuss issues affecting our function in the company and for a couple of members of the team to share areas of interest for that month, specific teaching topics for the rest of the legal function, etc.  

My topic for this morning was on Information Management.  Specifically, on the retention and destruction of records.  

Retention and destruction is a topic that nobody really likes.  It's an obligation and a need, but not something exciting.  Everyone can recognize the need to get rid of old material in the abstract, but when it comes to your documents, your records, etc. then those are absolutely necessary documents that must be kept.  Plus, it gets complicated when there are legal and regulatory requirements governing retention, not just business use or need.

This is an area that I am less experienced in.  The area that I am still exploring and still learning.  The eDiscovery portion of my job, while utilizing new technologies was very familiar.  The Information Management portion, that retention, deletion, and protection of data/documents is the stretch.  There is a lot in this area, balancing legal requirements, system capabilities, and expected user action, compounded by the complication of addressing multiple countries and jurisdictions at once.

To say I was nervous, would be an understatement.  I think I ran through the presentation 3 times in my head as I woke up at various times in the night.  

Thankfully, the presentation went well.  It was definitely the hot topic for discussion, as I was peppered with questions throughout.  Nothing like a bit of cross-examination from your fellow attorneys.  But all questions raised were good topics for further exploration, and hopefully beneficial for the overall discussion.

So, all in all, a good day.  I still feel like I'm getting my feet planted firmly underneath me, and this was a big part of it.