Climbing Back

Consultants George Socha and Tom Gelbmann highlight key trends they identified in their annual e-discovery survey.

In the world of electronic data discovery, 2009 was a year to refocus, with providers and consumers shifting away from review and moving toward information management and analysis. And while money wasn't pouring in like the apex years, revenue is climbing back, with a steady if modest growth.

More than anything else, those are the lessons learned from our seventh annual review of the industry, The 2010 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey.

We are definitely starting to see the maturation of the electronic data discovery market. The good news: prospects are bright for law firms and EDD providers that focus on helping clients address e-discovery challenges efficiently, with an eye to early understanding of electronically stored information and what it means to the matter at hand.

The future is dim, however, for those who seek only to treat the symptoms, pursuing short-term, reactionary, just-make-it-go-away approaches. It's also murky for those who continue to insist that the way they addressed EDD three years ago still works fine today.

MAJOR EDD TRENDS OF 2009
• Market size: We estimate the value of the EDD market in 2009 to have been about $2.8 billion, up about 10% from 2008. Compared with most of the 2000s, this is a modest increase. But it also is quite different from the 9% drop we saw from 2007 to 2008. Consumers and providers tell us they expect this market to expand at between 10% and 15% in 2010, and again in 2011.

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Source: law.com
By: George Socha & Tom Gelbmann