Deloitte: Collaboration is key to evidence collection between Legal and IT

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

Although more than one-third (35.5 percent) of corporate legal and information technology (IT) teams say they are working to improve communication across departmental lines, a mere 8.1 percent of executives believe their company teams fully understand each other, according to a new Deloitte poll.

When asked whether the experience of a chief information officer (CIO) and general counsel (GC) enabled them to bridge the gap, 20.2 percent of respondents report that their company CIO and GC do not understand each other’s field. However, 16 percent indicated they have experience in each other’s fields; 4.5 percent report their CIO has some knowledge of the law and 5.9 state their GC has some knowledge of technology.

“Legal and IT teams have been working together more closely each year, responding to litigation or regulatory investigations.These fast-paced, complex efforts to locate, collect, preserve and analyze electronic data—evidence, really—are crucial to defending corporate reputations, legal claims and more,” said Mark Michels, a director in the discovery practice for Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.