Interesting question for the Lit support managers out there.
http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1352664830539&Should_Law_Firms_Outsource_EDiscovery&slreturn=20121017121327
http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1352664830539&Should_Law_Firms_Outsource_EDiscovery&slreturn=20121017121327
Concordance and Summation are two words familiar through the halls of nearly every large law firm in the country. They are two of the most commonly used early platforms for managing basic, electronic data coming in and out of law firms.
Even firms that have insourced the entire e-discovery process with more sophisticated technology still use these early systems for smaller matters. But the growing number of matters are far from small when it comes to the amount of electronic data in even the simplest of cases.
The question then becomes, should firms invest in newer, more comprehensive software and the infrastructure to run them internally or should they outsource larger e-discovery projects to vendors that have the staffing and latest technology?
While many business decisions in the legal industry get implemented across firms like falling dominoes with one firm following what a competitor before it did, such is far from the case in e-discovery.
Models are varied and most firms are still undecided. The Legal Intelligencer spoke with a few firms across the spectrum about how they've approached the delivery of e-discovery services.
LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS
Ralph Losey is a partner in the Orlando office of labor and employment boutique Jackson Lewis. He serves as the firm's national e-discovery counsel and chairman of its e-discovery practice group. For nine months he reviewed the firm's internal e-discovery service offerings and decided in June to outsource to Kroll Ontrack all nonlegal e-discovery work that the firm's litigation support department had been handling.
Kroll will now handle forensic investigations, collections, processing, hosting, and advanced software that includes predictive coding when needed. Jackson Lewis will handle the legal work, including advising clients on litigation readiness, interviewing witnesses, handling court conferences, issuing document requests to opposing parties, conducting computer-assisted review, filing motions, and handling trials.
If a matter is small enough, Jackson Lewis associates will do the document review, and if the matter is too large, Kroll's document review center will handle it, Losey said.
"The big mistake law firms make is that they don't understand the complexity of e-discovery," Losey said. "There's such confusion and muddiness. Law firms should do what they are supposed to do and the only thing they have a license to do, honestly. That is legal services."
Losey said most e-discovery work is legal advice, something vendors aren't allowed to provide.
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