Jay Brudz Co-Wrote Article for The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

Washington, D.C. partner Jay co-wrote an article for The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel titled, “From Zubulake to Information Governance: Enabling Big Data Projects by Applying Use Cases.”

Jay co-wrote the article with Laura A. Zubulake. Laura was the plaintiff in the groundbreaking Zubulake case that resulted in several legal opinions concerning electronic discovery. Zubulake transformed the legal industry, established precedent in the field of e-discovery, and provided an early example of information governance (IG).

IG refers to the proactive management of information through the entire data lifecycle, from creation to destruction, so as to maximize return and minimize risk. Proactive data management requires firms to establish policies, assign accountability and educate staff, all through an organic process that can adapt to the latest technology and become fundamental to the corporate culture.

The article poses the question: Why is IG important? Simply put, data is the new oil, and organizations are realizing that there’s money in it. However, IG is not cookie cutter and will need to be molded for specific corporate needs and workflows, which summons the use of Use Cases.

Jay and Laura say that use cases are essential to the development of applications that implement IG initiatives. They describe how information is used across the enterprise and what institutional challenges ensue, and they are defined by business users, tax users, marketing users, and even “random users.” Typical challenges they present relate to compliance, privacy and security, as well as the general goal of enhancing business processes and profitability.