E-Discovery on the Cheap

With the economy down, the new mantra for clients is “more for less.” As litigation budgets shrink, litigation teams are forced to deal with the enormous volume of documents produced in e-discovery without the benefit of large teams of paralegals or expensive outside vendors.

The good news for lawyers is, less can be more. Through strategic planning, careful organization and technological savvy, costs can be cut significantly by improving efficiency. Many of the biggest budget-busters in e-discovery can be eliminated by maximizing the potential of a lean litigation team.

The key to maximizing cost-effectiveness is structure and planning through a project-based approach. Experienced litigators know the textbook discovery process strategies, but going “back to basics” is essential to cost-effective compliance in a down economy. The three building blocks of every e-discovery project should be: (1) planning at the outset, (2) selecting appropriate tools for document management, and (3) communicating and defining roles.

IT STARTS WITH A PLAN

The first step for any e-discovery project should always be to formulate a discovery plan determining at the outset what information is necessary to the case and outlining the steps to get that information. This might simply look like an outline of claims or defenses. Crystal­lizing the essential points in the case maximizes potential savings by focusing e-discovery on relevant issues and enabling the team to identify relevant and irrelevant information.

Developing a budget is the second step in planning e-discovery. Despite the shifting nature of litigation, budgets should always be prepared, however speculative. A budget is useful even if later revised because it forces the team to consider its largest expenses at the outset and compare values.

To Continue Reading: Click Here
----------------------------------------------
Source: law.com
By: Frederick Chockley III, Elizabeth Scully, and Rebecca Bar