Team ATR

By Rick Clark and Jacob Hesse

2023 was an eventful year in the world of legal technology, with new technology emerging to address both traditional and new challenges legal teams face when collecting, processing, and reviewing data for litigation, investigations, or public access requests.

What will 2024 hold, especially in the world of eDiscovery? We’ve captured the top trends for the year based on the conversations we’ve had in recent months with customers and industry experts. Here are six themes we predict will be most prevalent in the year ahead.

Early Case Assessment (ECA) Will Take Hold

ECA is certainly not new, but its use will accelerate significantly in the year ahead. Automation and advanced analytics, including machine learning, smart filtering, and integration with predictive coding technology will continue to grow. This integration will enable more precise identification of key documents and information, giving practitioners a clearer understanding of the case early on and influencing the speed to litigation, settlement, or other strategic decisions.

Efficiency and cost control are two of ECA’s leading values, with enhanced data volume management and fewer documents to review with human eyes. Advances in early case assessment technology are making it more accessible, with valuable insights into case details such as key issues, custodians, and document types.

Role of AI Will Rise

Generative artificial intelligence promises to transform the legal community by enabling more data interrogation during discovery. This may change the roles of legal professionals by automating certain tasks, such as drafting and summarizing documents.

As AI becomes more prevalent, issues such as the misuse of AI (such as with “deep fake” images and video”) will be prominent. Generative AI will also be a challenge when verifying research and determining whether information created by AI is credible, or a “hallucination.”

Artificial intelligence may be a technological boost in support of access to justice and assisting legal aid providers looking for increased efficiency at low cost.

Data Privacy Restrictions Will Increase

With the growing awareness and importance of data privacy, governments and corporations will encounter more stringent regulations globally. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an early example of this. Projects in eDiscovery will need to be ever more careful about the collection and handling of personal data. This may be especially true for data that crosses national borders.

Laws within nations are evolving as well. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and others are emerging that will require the eDiscovery industry to adapt. Legal teams and eDiscovery experts will need to be aware of the region that data is collected from and ongoing changes in the legal landscape to maintain compliance.

Privacy concerns and the explosion of data volumes over time are influencing organizations to focus on data minimization. Companies are implementing strict data retention policies to reduce the risk of data breaches and ensure compliance with laws and consumer expectations.

SaaS and Cloud-based eDiscovery Solutions Will Become Mainstream

The argument for cloud-based solutions for eDiscovery has never been stronger. Cloud-based eDiscovery solutions offer lower upfront costs compared to solutions that are on-premise and often operate on a subscription model, which can be more economical than investing in extensive hardware and software. Since the cloud provider manages the IT infrastructure, there is a reduced burden on a customer’s IT department in terms of maintenance, security, and updates.

Cloud-based eDiscovery solutions also often offer customizable options that can be tailored to specific needs. Those with DIY options along with professional services can offer great flexibility and scalability. Professional services teams can accelerate a client’s access to important facts and data, without the client having to maintain full-time litigation technology support staff. Those customers who prefer to manage their own eDiscovery can still do so but can hand the work over to professional services team members if the size of the project becomes unwieldy.

SaaS solutions provide efficient data management and security capabilities that comply with legal and regulatory standards. Cloud providers usually offer advanced security technologies, processes, and certifications that might be too costly for individual organizations to adopt on their own.

Consensus on Handling Short Messages

By the end of 2024, we may see more consensus developing on how to collect and review short messages like Slack or Teams chats, text messages, and other mobile data. These modern data types are becoming increasingly important in legal disputes. Conversations no longer stay within one platform: they can meander from email to text messages to Teams, for example. The ability to thread messages between platforms will be an advantage for those seeking to derive an accurate and complete story from data.

Blockchain Use Will Expand in eDiscovery

Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize eDiscovery in terms of data integrity and automating compliance. However, there are challenges to navigate given its decentralized nature. Blockchains can span multiple legal jurisdictions, so applying local laws about eDiscovery may be challenging since the technology operates globally. Courts and legal professionals will need to develop a better understanding of the technology and how it can be incorporated into eDiscovery processes.

Business use of blockchain technology continues to rise. This makes it inevitable that eDiscovery will need to be applied to it more often. eDiscovery professionals will need expertise in tracing and analyzing blockchain transactions, including cryptocurrency transactions.

Blockchain technology can add security to data, but it will also raise privacy concerns. Once information is placed in a blockchain, it is difficult to change or delete. This will be challenging in the face of privacy laws like GDPR, which gives people the right to be “forgotten.”

Smart contracts and automated compliance are possible with technology like blockchain, where the terms of the contract can be written directly into computer code and help automate eDiscovery. Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements can be built into code so that data retention and deletion policies are automatically enforced. Blockchain’s primary feature is the ability to maintain a secure record of transactions. For eDiscovery, this means better evidence integrity and easier defense of the authenticity of digital records.

Do you have an emerging eDiscovery challenge that you portend will only continue to grow? Contact us today to see how we can support your eDiscovery needs in 2024 with our cloud-based review platform, CloudNine Review, CloudNine Analyst, only eDiscovery solution that renders hard-to- manage modern data types in near native format, with timelines, or through one of our other technologies or services.

About the Authors

Rick Clark is VP, Strategic Partnerships at CloudNine and has 20+ years of experience in forensics and eDiscovery. Focused on innovation and education, he co-founded ESI Analyst, now CloudNine Analyst, as well as Wave Software and the Master’s Conference.

Jacob Hesse is VP, Professional Services at CloudNine and has 20+ years of experience in eDiscovery in both law firm and service provider environments. He most enjoys building collaboration and synergies within and between teams to achieve goals together.

By Rick Clark

It’s evident that the legal eDiscovery industry is undergoing significant transformation, driven by the ever-expanding data varieties, volumes, and the velocity in growth for varieties and volume, especially in the last year. (For instance, there are 20 million text/chat messages sent every minute. ¹) The intersection of these three data Vs has not only posed unique challenges but has also paved the way for innovative solutions and a paradigm shift in how data is reviewed in the legal discovery process.

The Surge in Data Variety

One of the defining aspects of 2023 in the eDiscovery arena has been the explosion in data variety. With the proliferation of communication channels, collaboration platforms, and social media applications, legal professionals are grappling with an increasingly diverse range of data types. From traditional emails and documents to multimedia content and unstructured data generated by disparate communication options, the legal landscape now demands a more comprehensive approach to data review.

To address the addition of modern data, eDiscovery solutions have evolved to incorporate advanced native review workflows and artificial intelligence. With the largest challenge in deriving context from cross platform communications facing legal teams today, near native (looks like a document) renderings of communications allow teams to see conversations navigating between communications applications and tag each message with the proper tag.

Soaring Data Volumes and the Need for Efficiency

The continued growth in data volume has been a persistent challenge for the legal industry, and the increase in variety types has compounded the volume challenge. The sheer magnitude and variety of information generated by businesses and individuals has necessitated a reevaluation of eDiscovery workflows. Traditional methods of manual document review are no longer viable in the face of terabytes or even petabytes of data.

To tackle this issue, eDiscovery providers have embraced technologies such as near-native-driven review, machine learning, and automated workflows. These augmented platforms empower legal professionals to sift through vast datasets more efficiently, identifying relevant information with greater accuracy and speed. The emphasis is on streamlining processes to ensure that legal teams can focus their efforts on the most critical aspects of a case rather than being “stuck” in linear document review workflows.

Accelerating Data Velocity and Real-Time Challenges

The speed at which data is generated and disseminated has reached record levels, posing a unique set of challenges for the legal eDiscovery landscape. The need for real-time insights has become paramount, especially in cases where swift action is required. Data velocity requires that legal professionals adapt their strategies to keep pace with the dynamic nature of information.

In response to this, eDiscovery platforms are being designed with more efficient data collection processes in mind, that integrate into the already existing efficient review and analysis capabilities. This allows legal teams to download or collect data when it is needed, ensuring that they stay ahead of developments in legal processes. It also enables proactive decision-making with faster access to key conversations that can be found in Slack, Teams or other mobile communication applications.

The Paradigm Shift: Reviewing Data Differently

The confluence of data variety, volumes, and velocity has forced the legal eDiscovery industry to reevaluate traditional document review methods. The days of linear review processes and manual document examination are giving way to a more dynamic, technology-driven approach.

Legal professionals are increasingly relying on a combination of human expertise and advancing technologies. With 2023 being another year of hard lessons with modern data, technologists and legal teams are working together to create more seamless workflows that will make 2024 a better year for managing this data. The first step is looking at modern communications as data during an Early Case Assessment (ECA) or review phase and then documents for production purposes only; not the other way around.

In conclusion, the year 2023 has been a watershed moment for the legal eDiscovery industry when it comes to handling modern data. The challenges posed by data variety, volume, and velocity have catalyzed a transformation in how legal professionals approach the review process. The integration of advanced technologies has not only enhanced efficiency but has also positioned the industry to navigate the evolving data landscape with agility and better precision. As we step into 2024, the legal eDiscovery field is poised to continue its evolution, leveraging innovation to meet the demands of an ever-changing digital era. Find out how CloudNine can help you tackle emerging data challenges in eDiscovery with CloudNine Analyst, the only solution available today that can handle modern data in near-native format with timelines. Contact us for a brief consultation today.

¹  Internet Minute Infographic by Ediscovery Today

Rick Clark is VP, Strategic Partnerships at CloudNine and has 20+ years of experience in forensics and eDiscovery. Focused on innovation and education, he co-founded ESI Analyst, now CloudNine Analyst, as well as Wave Software and the Master’s Conference.

In the realm of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC), legal challenges are inherent, as affirmed by construction litigator Jordan Nadel of Mark Migdal & Hayden. A recent Arcadis study highlights a 42% surge in construction lawsuits in North America from 2021 to 2022, attributing this spike to ongoing COVID-19 effects, supply chain woes, and escalating material costs.

Stakeholders in the AEC industry grapple with heightened expectations, emerging environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements, and disruptions from supply chain issues all impacted by climate change. These challenges necessitate a reevaluation of industry approaches.

To navigate the legal storm, AEC companies must meticulously document project activities, contracts, and communications. Liz Rancourt-Smith from Tilson underscores the importance of document management, labeling contracts and paperwork as the essential framework of construction projects.

Yet, maintaining clarity in an industry where standardization often stops at construction proves challenging. Disparate workflows and vast databases make legal discovery a potential nightmare.

Common legal cases in AEC encompass contract disputes, professional negligence claims, construction defects, insurance coverage disputes, delay claims, and regulatory violations. Proactive documentation and robust organizational workflows emerge as shields against impending legal complexities.

Fortunately, solutions exist for AEC’s vast challenges. Our white paper, “Laying a Solid Foundation: eDiscovery Must Haves in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry”, authored by attorney and innovation strategist Nadine Ezzie, delves into these challenges and their solutions, offering insights for both immediate and future needs.

Software is meant to make our lives easier when it comes to eDiscovery. Automation, artificial intelligence, and advanced search and culling technologies have all reduced the need for hundreds of human hours reviewing documents.

Still, there is plenty of work to be done, and even “small” eDiscovery cases can be highly complex and time consuming. When you don’t have permanent resources on hand to take on these additional duties or if a surge in work strains a lean team, professional services can provide much needed additional support and expertise to your team.

Professional services can help by taking on some of the burdens of eDiscovery, from collections to processing, and from review to final productions. There are areas where a project manager or technical analyst could make your work faster and more effective:

• Collection experts and technology analysts can formulate effective collect and search strategies more quickly and produce meaningful results more accurately, and in a defensible manner.
• Project managers can look for hidden risks, unfinished tasks, and maintain a budget to control costs.
• Analysts can run document productions and perform quality checks to ensure there are no errors or surprises before documents are turned over to opposing counsel.

While professional services staff assist you by taking on these responsibilities and more, your time can be reserved for critical case management, client service tasks and client relationship building, all important activities critical to your business success.

What are a few telltale signs that you might need professional services?

• Time constraints and fractional staffing: When work is not getting done on time or is but only through herculean efforts, professional services support can help give you not only meet deadlines but get time back in your day for more valuable work.
• Risk management concerns: Are you or your general counsel concerned about eDiscovery work quality output and how this may put you at risk? Reduce the risks in your processes by leaning on professional services to handle work they are specially trained to complete.
• Desire to embrace new technologies: Have you used the same technology for years without evaluating what newer, cloud-based technology can achieve? Professional services can help your firm migrate existing data, adopt powerful new platforms, processes, and standards that will accelerate work and make it more efficient.
• A need to lower costs: Do you have a mandate to reduce spend in what is typically one of the highest costs of litigation, eDiscovery? Professional services teams have the knowledge and tools to complete work quickly and efficiently, which will lower your overall project costs.

Contact us today if you want to find out more how CloudNine can help you to simplify eDiscovery with our cloud-based and on-premise solutions, and to ramp up when needed with our professional services support to get eDiscovery work done on time, and on budget.

By Jacob Hesse

With eDiscovery continuing to make up a large percentage of litigation spend, law firms and corporate legal teams should evaluate ways to save on eDiscovery costs. Exploring the use of proven, yet less expensive eDiscovery software is one obvious strategy to adopt in cost cutting times. Another approach is to consider supplementing a team with seasoned eDiscovery professionals to get work done.

Professional services teams include project managers, data analysts, technologists, and others who provide expert knowledge in particular domain areas. The capabilities they bring to the table can make a huge difference to the success and budget of your eDiscovery project. Example benefits may include:

• Focused data collection: An expert collection specialist can target relevant data, reducing the burden and cost of large volumes of irrelevant, unwanted information.
• Faster processing: A dedicated person or team can process terabytes of data, leveraging expert knowledge of processing software to achieve speed to data.
• Better search results: Unless you majored in math, Boolean operators may not be your best friend, but they are very familiar to eDiscovery specialists that can craft defensible culling strategies and get your attorneys’ eyes on relevant documents quickly and accurately.
• Greater efficiency in managing data volume and types: eDiscovery matters have grown in complexity in recent years, thanks to remote work and the explosion in use of communication apps and texts for business. Bringing in experts who can approach complex data management with ease will save you time and money in the long run.
• Reduced chaos: Project managers are the eye of the storm. They watch over project budgets, monitor for risks, and create and execute the tasks necessary to complete a project successfully. If you don’t have the time to manage multiple resources and external vendors, project managers can be a lifeline.
• Defend the margin: Professional services can reduce your costs by minimizing the reliance on full time eDiscovery professionals, who may not be needed once a discovery project ends. Ramp your professional services staff up and down as the work demands, matching cost with need. This style of “just in time” staffing will please your CFO and maximize your profits.

To summarize, there are many reasons why legal teams should consider relying on outside professional services support for eDiscovery matters, especially at a time when eDiscovery is becoming more complex, and the demand for cost savings and faster discovery work turnarounds are high. Read on to find out more about CloudNine’s professional services.

In our next blog in this series, we share telltale signs that forecast the need for professional services help for eDiscovery.

About the Author: Jacob Hesse leads Professional Services at CloudNine and has 20+ years of experience in eDiscovery in both law firm and service provider environments. He most enjoys building collaboration and synergies within and between teams to achieve goals together.