How to Control Litigation Costs with In-House E-Discovery

The primary culprits behind rising litigation costs are the increase in e-discovery requests and the corresponding volume of electronic data this produces. Most legal departments today are trying to reduce costs from outside counsel and trim e-discovery costs. Both of these goals are furthered by the trend to bring more areas of e-discovery in-house. By expanding in-house legal departments and encouraging in-house e-discovery, Knowledge Center contributor Dean Gonsowski explains how enterprises can gain control over rising litigation costs.

According to a recent management consulting firm survey, "cost control" is now the biggest concern of Chief Legal Officers (CLOs), beating out "compliance" by more than two to one. To curb costs, nearly half of all CLOs participating in the survey say they plan to expand their in-house legal departments in the next year. Furthering the insourcing movement, more than a quarter of them also plan to decrease their use of outside counsel.

Is this a sign of the downward economy or simply symptomatic of a much larger trend? Perhaps it's a little of both.

Litigation has always held a reputation for being one of the most unpredictable and costly line items on the budget. So, what's changed now to accelerate this movement? While certainly not acting in isolation, the increase in discovery requests and the corresponding volume of electronic data loom large as the primary culprits behind rising litigation costs.

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Source: eweek.com
By: Dean Gonsowski