Habeas verbus ad subjiciendum

Ironically this week, just after posting about the fear of legal discovery in a world gone mad with out of control communication (Here), I heard of exactly that: a friend of mine who was named in a wrongful termination suit and was terrified. Not that he felt he had done anything wrong. But with no clear retention policy in place, and no good method for archiving, he had no idea what was or was not out there.  Had he deleted something years ago that was still available through back up?  Was his Exchange server and backups the only place his emails existed, or were there old pst files saved somewhere?

The requirement to comply with discovery, the cost of doing so, the cost of not being accurate, and the fear of the unknown - what might I have that I don't know I have or don’t know where it may be is daunting. I’m not a JD, so I leave this up to those of you who are, but I would think a client would be well-served by counsel that advised them in this area before the need arose.

The stakes are high and demand robust solutions and processes that insure when faced with a writ of Habeas verbus ad subjiciendum we don’t show up to court empty handed. - Chris Saah