Message from the Chair:

With the Annual Meeting of 2015 just behind us, the Information Governance Committee is pleased to announce that the members elected during the meeting its officers for 2015-16: Shawn Cheadle as Chair, Annie Drew as Vice Chair, and James Carroll as Secretary. We have an amazing group of volunteer leaders, a few of which are introduced below. The goal of your leadership team is to provide excellent educational programming and resources throughout 2015-16, including sponsoring and co-sponsoring Mid-Year Meeting (April in New York) and Annual Meeting (October in San Francisco) programs. Please join us if you can.

Our Membership Chair, Matt Nelson, along with all of your IG leaders extend a warm welcome to all of you as new IG Committee members. You are joining at an amazing pace – we have nearly doubled our membership since last summer! Our membership growth demonstrates the importance of the emerging area of IG to the in-house community, and we are ready to provide as much content to inform the in-house community as possible.

What makes the IG Committee unique is that the diversity of our membership reflects the diversity of the information governance challenges facing most organizations.  The explosive growth and mismanagement of information is a common problem leading to unnecessary legal risk and cost related to records management, eDiscovery, data privacy, data security and regulatory compliance.  Most organizations address these areas independently and reactively instead of coordinating with internal counterparts to develop consistent strategies that benefit the entire organization.  Recognizing this problem, the IG Committee was formed. This is also the reason the IG Committee will be partnering with other ACC Committees where such topics are also important to their membership.  

We are thrilled to announce that with ACC’s support and leadership, the IG Committee leaders conducted a robust request for proposal process, and, after thorough analysis, we selected two sponsors to serve the IG Committee members throughout 2016. We welcome Contoural and Drinker Biddle as our inaugural sponsors.  Contoural, Inc. has built a reputation as an industry thought leader on Information Governance, publishing a wide variety of complimentary white papers, webinars, and articles, and has long supported ACC’s Annual Meeting, ACES conference and several other programs.  Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, a full service law firm, has expanded its Information Governance practice team to include data analytics, becoming one of the first law firms to offer data analytics as a legal practice area.  Drinker Biddle recognizes that information governance in an integral part of corporate governance and risk management.  The IG Committee very much appreciate their support of ACC and our newly-formed IG Committee.

We anticipate a banner year in 2016!
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Call for Programs!

In preparation for the Annual Meeting in San Francisco  (October 2016),  we are seeking program ideas on all things IG – cybersecurity, privacy, data protection, incident responses, cloud computing, litigation data management and eDiscovery, vendor compliance, records management, change management, risk management and more.  We will be targeting alternative formats, including potential workshop formats, that offer a dynamic, engaging learning experience.  Please submit ideas in a concise paragraph format to our Programs Chair, Catherine Walberg, or to any of the IG Committee leaders.

If you have not already, there is still time to fill out the 2015-2016 Information Governance Committee Survey to offer your input regarding committee logistics and future programming. We appreciate your input!

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Upcoming Events

Linda Sharp, our Legal Quick Hits (LQH) Chair, has provided non-stop, outstanding programs for a full year already, even while the Committee was still an “Interest Group”. The IG Committee extends our sincere thanks to Linda for her high energy and steadfast support.

For additional LQH monthly programs, and other resource materials, please visit the IG Committee website.

The next Information Governance Committee Legal Quick Hit will be on December 17, 2015 at 2:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM GMT. "The State of Information Governance and Five Common Pitfalls of Data Deletion and Practical Approaches to Avoid Them" will be a two part program presented by our sponsors Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and Contoural Inc. 

Committee Mission

The primary purpose of the ACC Information Governance (IG) Committee (the “Committee”) is to provide in-house counsel with a forum for discussing, collaborating and addressing common IG challenges that impact most corporations and to:

1.     Educate in-house counsel about the changing nature of how information and data are used within an organization and identify the risks, cross-functional challenges, costs, legal responsibilities and opportunities this represents.

2.     Develop and communicate practice policies, procedures, and best practice approaches for in-house counsel to work collaboratively to ensure the proper and legal control of information; and

3.     Empower in-house counsel to provide relevant, helpful and up-to-date advice on a broad spectrum of IG challenges to ensure that corporate information is protected, managed and retrievable in accordance with legal and business requirements and meet business needs for streamlined access to information, data analytics and the requisite technology to meet these needs across the enterprise. Help in-house counsel to understand the benefits of looking at organizational information across the enterprise and reducing risk associated with siloed approaches.

Driving Value In Your Department? Become an ACC Value Champion

Have you implemented management initiatives resulting in reduced spending, higher predictability, and/or better outcomes? If so, put in a nomination to be a 2016 ACC Value Champion by February 5. We want to shine a spotlight on your successful management tactics, providing ideas and inspiration to others. For more information and to put in a nomination, click here. 
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Information Governance Committee Resources

ACC Quick Counsel

The Role of E-Discovery in Developing Information Governance Policies

ACC Legal Quick Hit

The Relationship of Big Data, Information Governance, and Data Governance

ACC Docket

Summary Judgment: Information Governance Programs

Creating an ROI for Information Governance, With No Budget

ACC Sample Form & Policy

Information Governance Committee Launch