First things first. My beloved Cubs rewarded my visit with a 13-3 loss to the Marlins, marking this as the most lopsided score over the 15+ years I’ve been making this journey. Now, firmly ensconced in San Francisco – and with my state bar duties dispensed with for the week – we can return to more pressing matters…
How many of the execs swallowed up in the News of the World Scandal thought they’d ever be arrested in their lifetimes? None. In fact, a high percentage of the general public would agree with them. But people-who-you-normally-wouldn’t-expect-to-be-arrested are arrested. And some of them eventually go to jail.
While you watch the slow and painful erosion of the Murdoch empire – and the collateral damage causally connected to it – I hope you consider one ingredient to add to your schadenfreude; you’re watching a large-scale version of how your criminal or civil matter will unfold if you don’t deal with it when it’s manageable.
Of course, yours won’t likely be this big or this public – or this expensive – but this is how it’ll start; a molehill that, over time, grows into a mountain. Or, in this case, a mountain range. eDiscovery rules & regulations, litigation readiness programs and early case assessment are all designed to staunch the bleeding and, if instituted early enough, prevent the wound altogether.
You have to be willing to take the pain. Like they always say, the first cut is the deepest.
