The issues and problems of e-mail management and disposition continue to plague many organizations. Although an organization creates and maintains a wide variety of electronic content, it is almost always e-mail that is the culprit in adverse legal actions, negative publicity and loss of reputation.

It is the tradition of the MER Conference to present the legal, operational and technical considerations related to a particular electronic records management (ERM) issue or problem. This pre-conference tutorial on e-mail management furthers that tradition and brings all three factors together for a comprehensive look at the current state of e-mail management, from the issues and challenges, typical responses to those issues and challenges, and finally, to possible technical solutions and future trends.

This pre-conference session will begin with a presentation by one of the nation's leading legal authorities on the topic of e-mail. The specific legal concerns, trends in the current approaches of attorneys and judges when dealing with e-mail both in pre-trial meetings as well as during the course of a trail, and possible future trends will be discussed.

To assess whether the legal concerns presented in the first part of the session are adequately being addressed by organizations today, the second part of this session will focus on the current trends, from a records management and operational perspective, for the management of e-mail. What are organizations doing, and does it fit with records management "best practices"? Recommendations for e-mail management, from a non-technical perspective, will be provided.

Finally, the session will conclude with an in depth discussion of the current technology available for the management of e-mail, with detailed information on product offerings and "solutions", vendors, strengths, weaknesses and technology trends - all in non-technical terms.