Ediscovery Trends

When it comes to choosing litigation support software, there are a few options out there.  You need to assess what data you have (or could request via discovery), how you are going to analyze that data, and how you are going to leverage that data to better help your client.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for litigation software, and you have to make some important decisions when selecting an appropriate platform.  First, how much data will you be receiving and in what format will it be in?  If the only responsive documents are some emails, what format will they be provided to you in?  Can you just open and review the files through a native application on your computer?  If so, great!  But if some responsive documents are part of a complex specialized software package (for example, AutoCAD files), will you be able to review them properly?  You may need a litigation support vendor to convert those files to TIFF for you.

Better yet, have those special files reviewed by an expert – converting documents to TIFF can eliminate the actual value of a file.  Think of what you use a spreadsheet for – you can have formulas in certain rows and columns, you can sort columns by any number of criteria, etc.  Now, if someone took away your computer and replaced it with a printout of that spreadsheet, try getting some work done!  That’s what happens when a heavy-handed solution is used where some precision is required.

Another thing to consider with your litigation support software is how many people will be using it to code?  Factor in the cost of actually training people on how to properly use the software.  Too may times we have had to deal with users who only bothered to learn enough to get by, but when a deadline comes up, they need to know how to perform complex searches, bates number documents, endorse documents, and get them to the court by 5:00 P.M.!  Often, after the deadline has passed, that same user will come back and say “boy if I had known what this software could do earlier, I wouldn’t have needed to rush.”

So with ediscovery software, there are many factors to consider.  Anyone who flat out tells you that XYZ platform is “the best” probably has limited experience with other platforms.  Each has its use and purpose, but of course, we all have our own preferences!

The American Bar Association has created one of the ugliest charts I’ve seen that lists comparisons of document review software.  It’s difficult to compare the features of all these products, so this chart can be useful, but it could also do more harm than good.  Litigation support professionals know the value of the EDRM model, and this chart doesn’t really help you plan for litigation, but rather just react to it.  Nonetheless, it’s nice to have a side-by-side comparison of some of the various document review platforms.  The information in this chart appears to have been supplied by the lit support vendors, so take the info with a grain of salt.  There are a couple of review tools that I haven’t heard of before, so I’ll be looking into those a little more closely.

Incidentally, the ABA does have a nice little Legal Technology area that caters to experts and newcomers to the legal-tech community.

Can good Ediscovery Tools reduce legal costs?  Of course they can!  The strange thing is, you may not seem like you’re paying $18K per gig (the Gartner report’s estimated cost for document review), but you probably are.  This is why it makes sense to control litigation costs at every step of the process.

The first thing to know is that you want as few potentially responsive documents as possible loaded into your document review software (Concordance, Summation, or iConect for example).  Before you even use those ediscovery tools, consider culling with a search tool that was designed to do a more in-depth analysis, such as Clearwell, Attenex, or kCura.  This way you’re not wasting resources by keeping a small army of document coders, but instead you’re reducing litigation costs by limiting the documents your coders need to review.

Litigation support vendors have been using these kinds of software platforms for years.  Don’t be afraid to change your ediscovery strategy, it very well could save you money in the long term!

Was just reading the Clearwell Ediscovery blog and have to agree that the most significant rule of the new ediscovery pilot plan is one that creates an ediscovery liaison.  This pilot program is only being tested in the Seventh Circuit Court, but is an important milestone for the progress of electronic discovery. Often in litigation, the scope of preservation and other requests are far too burdensome.  Document management software is a requirement for any business that is likely to be involved in litigation.

Of course a company like Clearwell provides software that makes it easy to quickly cull and preserve responsive documents.  Their software provides excellent document management during the course of litigation.  Their search technology allows document review costs to be reduced drastically, so document review software can be used more effectively.