Morgan Stanley Case points to importance of email retention

The $1.45 billion judgment against Morgan Stanley fordeceiving billionaire Ronald Perelman over a business dealhas a lesson all companies should learn--keeping e-mails isnow a must, experts say. Banks and broker-dealers areobliged to retain e-mail and instant messaging documents forthree years under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionrules. But similar requirements will apply to all publiccompanies from July 2006 under the Sarbanes-Oxley corporatereform measures.