Where litigation and technology make sense

There is a technical solution to assist with document management in disputes of all sizes, whether litigation, mediation or arbitration.

Option 1: Under 1,500 Documents (including emails and their attachments)

When the volume of documents is this size, eDiscovery Collab recommends a fully hyperlinked Excel spreadsheet solution, and a fully text searchable PDF solution.

We will be faster than you every time indexing documents thanks to our tools and expertise. Our fixed fee pricing means this solution is both time and cost effective for you and your client.

Also, our hyperlinked document will give you more advanced functionality to:

• filter and sort documents in Excel, and
• text search across the set of documents with the PDF solution.

We are always available to demonstrate ways you can get the best out of this solution.

Option 2: Over 1,500 Documents (including emails and their attachments)

Whenever you have more than 1,500 documents, we recommend using a litigation database to manage the documents because it will always be more efficient and cost effective. 

Of course we are going to say as soon as possible, but it makes the most sense to engage eDiscovery Collab when you begin identifying documents that might be relevant to your case so that we can help you:

• understand your clients technical infrastructure and the software they utilise to locate other document sources where more relevant documents might be hiding
• identify and mitigate any risks associated with the documents, including the key and costly risks of:

–      altering metadata on collection,

–      identifying if the software used alters metadata on archiving

–      identifying if the software separates emails from their attachments, and how that relationship can be restored with minimal cost.

It is important to consider these risks and find a solution prior to collection so you avoid having to invest time and money in the manual objective coding process that restores metadata at a later date.

One of the most important benefits of involving eDiscovery Collab early in the process is our ability to work with the IT and legal teams to translate IT speak to legal speak, and vice versa.

This helps to avoid any miscommunication or misinterpretation, and ensures that everyone is on the same page and understands the technical issues.

There is no right or wrong answer to this one.

If you engage your eDiscovery Provider directly, they will work closely with your external law firms and you to manage the litigation document management process in the same way they would if engaged by your law firm.

The service is the same.

The advantages when Inhouse Counsel engages the eDiscovery Provider include: 

1. your eDiscovery Provider will get to know your technical infrastructure and software which will streamline the identification of relevant document sources and collection, saving time and money
2. your eDiscovery Provider can identify any risks associated with your documents which could increase the cost later in the process and then assist your IT team to mitigate those risks and reduce the cost of document management in litigation
3. you can negotiate better document storage and hourly consulting rates as your volume of data is all in one place giving you bargaining power
4. your eDiscovery Provider gets to know your systems and can recommend ways to streamline internal processes to create efficiencies
5. your eDiscovery Provider can work with all the law firms you engage so your documents are managed in a consistent way
6. your eDiscovery Provider can assess your internal legal systems and processes, and recommend solutions where needed
7. using one eDiscovery Provider across your external law firms will enable them to educate the legal teams about your document management processes and how they interact with your software to gain a better understanding of the document landscape
8. eDiscovery Providers bring a depth of knowledge that adds to the strength and experience of your team – the eDiscovery Collab team are also great people who are fun to spend time with and calm in all high pressure situations.

This depends on the volume of eDiscovery work a law firm generates.

An eDiscovery team, their ongoing education and the software and infrastructure they require is expensive, so a team needs to be fully utilised and productive to be profitable.

Depending on the amount of dispute and litigation work undertaken by a law firm, a better solution is likely to be engaging an external eDiscovery Provider who is an expert in eDiscovery and document management.

The goal should always be to have the right people doing the right job whether they are internal or external to your law firm.

When a law firm outsources their eDiscovery, we recommend using the same eDiscovery Provider so they become an extension of the law firm’s team.

The law firm can access the services of the eDiscovery Provider when needed without carrying the significant costs during quiet times.

At eDiscovery Collab we regularly work with the same law firms and teams.

We have built strong relationships that benefit all parties by:

• understanding the workstyles of individual lawyers
• being trustworthy and reliable
• exceeding expectations whenever we can so lawyers don’t feel compelled to check the detail of our work – they know if there is an issue, we will bring it to their attention
• reducing their workload and stress levels because they know we are proactive, responsive and supportive.

At eDiscovery Collab we:

• will listen to your request and deliver the best and most cost effective solution for you
• are technical experts who understand what happens behind the scenes of the databases, as well as the specific advanced functionalities of the eDiscovery softwares so we can deliver solutions that make things better and easier for you
• talk in plain English and interpret and translate technical language into simple terms
• understand the litigation process so we know what you need before you need it
• can anticipate when a lawyer asks for something but they really need something else
• are responsive to your requests so you don’t have to follow us up
• understand pricing models and will actively help you reduce costs whenever possible
• are honest and accurate in our delivery predictions and deadlines so you can manage your own deliverables
• have a dedicated lead consultant who you deal with every day except when they are on leave – then we transfer knowledge through an extensive handover process so you are not impacted
• openly share our knowledge whenever it can help reduce your workload
• are easy to communicate with, nice people and great to work with.

If you are looking for another level in client service and expertise, contact us today to see what the eDiscovery Collab can do for you and your clients.