Towards More Efficient and Cost-effective Discovery

Chief Executive Officer and Senior Counsel

November 3, 2021

Discovery is typically the most time-consuming and expensive aspect of any legal dispute. This article provides some practical guidance and key tips for minimizing risk and cost for enterprises involved in disputes or regulatory matters that require the production of electronically stored information (ESI).

The most effective way to minimize eDiscovery cost and risk is to start with good document management and retention policies. While document management and retention are substantive and complex areas, there are a couple things that do not require software or expenditure that can make a substantial difference. … Read More

eDiscovery Preparedness – Technology Options

Crystal O’Donnell

Chief Executive Officer and Senior Counsel

October 13, 2021

Proactive management of electronic information is one of the best ways to minimize costs and risks associated with eDiscovery. This includes enterprises making decisions on the appropriate approach to managing eDiscovery based on needs, volume and resources available.

Over the last few years, the options available to enterprises to manage eDiscovery needs have changed considerably. The choices of available technology have increased, the functionality available has improved (and continues to improve), and the options for purchasing the technology have also changed.

While there is a wide spectrum amongst the below list, generally speaking, enterprises have the following options for managing eDiscovery:

Outsourcing
In-House
Hybrid

Outsourcing

Many enterprises leave all aspects of eDiscovery to external litigation counsel to manage as part of the litigation, including the decision to further outsource the eDiscovery work to vendors. … Read More

eDiscovery Preparedness – Review Technology

Candice Chan-Glasgow

Director, Review Services and Counsel

October 4, 2021

The discovery process is typically the most time-consuming and expensive aspect of any legal dispute. Fortunately, by adopting appropriate technology and best practices, parties can achieve significant cost savings in the review process. This article will outline functionality that is available and should be used in every discovery project involving electronic evidence.

Email Threading

Email threading is now considered a basic tool that should be employed on every discovery project. Email threading groups the conversation that happens back and forth in email and identifies the “end points” (or “inclusive emails”). … Read More

eDiscovery Preparedness – Data Processing

Candice Chan-Glasgow

Director, Review Services and Counsel

July 16, 2021

After potentially relevant electronically stored information (ESI) has been identified, preserved, and collected, it must be processed. Processing is converting the ESI to a usable format for review and analysis. Before processing the ESI, agreement should be obtained on processing specifications. Many processing decisions are common, and agreement on these issues is generally non-contentious.

One primary decision is how you will deduplicate the data. This is important due to the volumes of duplicate records that are typical for any enterprise. Deduplication will reduce the volume of documents that will need to be hosted in a review platform and ultimately reviewed for relevance. … Read More

eDiscovery Preparedness – Custodian Interviews

T. James Cass

Manager, Review Services and Senior Counsel

July 7, 2021

Custodian interviews are an important and necessary part of the identification phase of an eDiscovery project. Early interviews are necessary to develop a proportionate and defensible discovery plan.

The purpose of the interview is to:

identify the cast of characters,
the relevant time periods,
the potential sources of electronically stored information (ESI), and
confirm that the individuals understand the legal hold requirements.

If custodian interviews are not done there is a risk that the relevant information won’t be preserved and collected or conversely that too much data is preserved and collected. … Read More

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