Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Million-Dollar Words of E-Discovery

Throughout history, humans have had miscommunications and misunderstandings. Some are comical like Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First?"; others can be tragic like "Romeo and Juliet." Most of the time, a misunderstood word here or there doesn't have far-reaching implications, but in the legal profession a misunderstood word or instruction can cost millions.

In today's litigious environment, attorneys and IT professionals frequently find themselves in the midst of an e-discovery project that requires the team to quickly find information, which can reside on computers and smartphones, within applications such as e-mail, or on backup tapes stored in the closet of someone's home. Put these challenges together and the stage is set for expensive, complex, and sometimes frustrating, e-discovery projects.

THE BILLION-DOLLAR MARKET

E-discovery is among the fastest growing segments in the IT industry. Spending for EDD software and services will reach an estimated $1 billion by year-end according to Gartner. A survey of medium-sized U.S. companies conducted by Kroll Ontrack found that, on average, companies will spend $1.29 million to manage electronic data in 2009 compared with $437,000 last year.

To try and manage time and expenses, Brian Babineau, senior consulting analyst for the Enterprise Strategy Group, says that a growing proportion of annual e-discovery spending is spent proactively, rather than waiting for litigation to drive investment. "We believe that organizations are bringing a portion of the electronic discovery process in-house, especially in the early steps such as identification, collection and initial analysis that indicates a move to a more proactive approach. The rationalization for this assumption is that organizations are recognizing electronic discovery is a formal business process and are using technology to automate it."

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Source: law.com
By: Kevin Woo

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