By Mike Peebles

As I work with organizations investing in litigation readiness, I come across individuals that are new to the role and those that are more seasoned in this field. Those that are new to their role seem to be less than enthusiastic about their new found job responsibilities and indicate that they “missed the wrong meeting” or they “drew the short straw.” I admit that I laughed-out-loud when Don with the Office of the Medical Inspector at the Department of Veterans Affairs mused that “For my sins I was put in charge of our archives…”. Listen to the complete 9 minute recording here.

If I contrast this demeanor with those that have been working on litigation readiness for a longer period of time I find the difference when they realize that they don’t have to solve the problems for existing litigations but rather look at their organizations' litigation trends and prepare for the future.

What an opportunity! By nature I think it makes humans feel better to complain. Often when we express our dislikes or frustrations and “get them off our chest” we may not have solved anything but find solace in the fact that the person  listening to us shares the same dislikes & frustrations and we’re not alone. With litigation readiness though, we can open our doors to understanding these problems to help us focus on where to start to “get our electronic house in order.”

So if you’re new to the litigation readiness team – look to the future. If you’ve been working on litigation readiness for some time – thanks for listening.