Clearwell is clearly attempting to confuse me with their online presence.  It’s not like I really need any help though.  First they post a “Top Five Ediscovery Trends of 2010″ list on a website other than their own (which actually had more than 5 items), now they post a new “Top Ten Ediscovery Trends of 2010″ which doesn’t necessarily encapsulate all the information included in the original top 5.  Well, their new post has some interesting points, so let’s discuss!

First, I definitely agree that more firms should be taking advantage of early-case assessment tools.  Firms that do not take advantage of these tools are going to waste valuable time reviewing documents for a case that may or may not be worthwhile.  ECA tools can help a firm decide what a case’s scope will be, so they can be better prepared to handle it.

Again, we touched on this point earlier, but project management roles are going to become much more important in the litigation support community.  These roles could be a hybrid of litigation support and legal, who can keep track of all the electronic data requests surrounding a case and know which data is relevant to the attorneys.  I think the term “litigation analyst” might be a better term, as when I think of a “project manager” I usually wonder how they can “manage” to stay on the payroll!  zing!

I disagree with point six though – single platform solutions are still further down the road, as much as I’d like them to be an ediscovery trend.  The cold hard reality is that ediscovery professionals still use versatile tools like LAW and IPRO.  While there might be newer, shinier ediscovery software out there, the switching costs are too high for most vendors to consider, especially during a rough economic patch.

Linear review is dead – ha!  See above paragraph.  Plenty of firms that need document review are still locked into Summation or Concordance.  Those that are able shift towards more efficient document review methodologies will probably prosper like the first-movers they are, but unfortunately the old ways are still good enough to just barely get by.

Will EDRM be phased out?  If you think that lawyers are going to lay down their swords and start collaborating because it’s efficient, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.  How does collaboration increase billable hours again?  Sorry, but ediscovery rules are going to be established the hard way – lengthy brief after lengthy brief – until proper precedents are created.

Related posts:

1. Clearwell’s Top Ediscovery trends of 2010 Clearwell has a post (though not on their own blog),...
2. Legal Project Management Here’s an interesting interview with Alice Burns regarding legal project...
3. Fulbright and Jaworski release 7th Annual Litigation Trends Survey Fulbright & Jaworski have released their 7th Annual Litigation Trends...