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Product Review: Keep Your Metadata Out-of-Sight'
'Metadata' ' 1. Confidential information that ends up being electronically distributed thereby causing embarrassment and allowing your law firm to be placed at great risk in the hands of any and all outsiders to your firm! Now I realize that I may not be Webster when it comes to defining words, but I think that this really is the definition of the word Metadata! Truth be told, Metadata is information embedded in all Microsoft' Office Documents, including the last 10 authors, file paths, and editing time, track changes and comments, plus much more that you never see BUT is really there! Moreover, each and every time your or someone in your firm sends an e-mail attachment, whether it be a document or an Excel spreadsheet, along with the attachment you send vital and confidential information, in the form of Metadata, to your opposition! So how do you find Metadata ' well, you can look at your file properties. Just open any of your Excel or Word documents, next select File, Properties and notice that Metadata can be found on each of the several tabs! If you think this amazing, then you should try this ' Select File, Open and highlight a file. Next from the files type drop down menu select 'Recover Text from Any File' and then open the file. Scroll through that document now and you will find more Metadata than you could possibly imagine! I was amazed to find unbelievable items in my files and you will be too!
I have heard a lot of Metadata war stories as of late. How about this, your firm finally hacks out that 50-plus page settlement on the case you've been longing to close. But, lo and behold, the case doesn't settle, because in the metadata that was transmitted with the attachment, was a note from lawyer A in your firm to lawyer B saying, 'hey don't offer this SOB the initial $400,000.00, make him suffer and only offer up $250,000.00, because he has always been a real jerk about this case and no one likes him or his attitude!' Sure enough with this staring opposing counsel in the face, do you really think he will want to settle with your firm? Ok so now you know that Metadata is out there lurking in your files and attachments ' what's a firm to do?
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.