Refreshed Information Governance framework helps law firm modernise policies and practices
Business drivers
This multinational law firm is present in 15 territories across EMEA, APAC and the Americas. Established in 1822, this worldwide organisation is headquartered in London and provides legal and consulting advice across multiple practices, industries and jurisdictions, from infrastructure and government to technology and real estate. Today, the firm employs around 3,000 people including over 1,600 legal advisers around the globe.
As one of the world’s leading legal firms, governance plays a vital role across the organisation. Despite having an information governance policy already in place, the company was seeking an independent assessment of their incumbent Information Governance Framework in order to identify any gaps and ensure the policy remained up to date and in line with best practices and compliance.
Key requirements
This global organisation required a partner to review their existing information governance policy and practices, conduct a thorough gap analysis and subsequently deliver a set of valid recommendations and guidelines to ensure they had a comprehensive and compliant Information Governance Framework in place.
In addition, the company was looking to establish its readiness for the implementation of a records management disposal programme – for both digital and paper formats. This law firm needed a partner who could assess what was already in place and help develop a new policy and procedures to ensure compliant client data disposal.
Metataxis was approached to undertake both aspects of the project.
The Metataxis approach
Working closely with key stakeholders across the organisation, the Metataxis team commenced the project with an all-inclusive review of the existing information governance documentation, to identify areas that needed editing for consistency and clarity. This review included interviews with key staff to understand how the framework worked on the ground, as well as a gap analysis, so we could confidently deliver a series of recommended actions for improvement of the overall framework.
Through a series of interviews with business stakeholders and workshops, Metataxis developed a revised governance framework and target operating model consisting of:
- Governance bodies
- Roles and responsibilities
- Governance of the information content and their associated repositories (including case management systems)
- Information governance (including records management, access and permissions and sensitive information types
- Information architecture governance
- Compliance monitoring
As part of the development of the Information Governance Framework, the Metataxis team looked at the current policies, procedures and mechanisms in place to assess the firm’s readiness for a client records disposal solution. This involved identifying key steps that needed to be taken in order to be prepared for the implementation of a defensible disposal programme as well as clear recommendations of practical actions to take.
Finally, Metataxis provided a roadmap to demonstrate how the company could develop their overall information governance policy, in particular around data governance and align it with different disciplines within the business.
Business benefits
This international law firm now has a refreshed and revitalised Information Governance Framework which provides clear and consistent guidance on how information should be governed across the business.
The Metataxis review has also provided a clearer picture of the governance and operational requirements to ensure that the Governance Framework will grow as the organisation grows in the future. This, in turn, has made it easier for the firm to move forward with operational planning, in particular around records management and client data disposal.
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