eDiscovery Daily Blog

• August 21, 2015

In April 2014, we covered the seventh annual benchmarking study of eDiscovery Practices for Government Agencies conducted by Deloitte and covered the eighth annual study last December.  Apparently, Deloitte operates on an eight month year – their Ninth Annual Benchmarking Study of Electronic Discovery Practices for Government Agencies is available now.

This time, one hundred twenty four (149) professionals (up from 124 last time) across multiple government agencies participated in the survey, with attorneys comprising 60% of the respondents (down from 69% last time).  Here are some key findings in the report:

• Use of predictive coding is on the rise again as 27% of respondents indicated having used predictive coding in any of their cases, up from 23% last year and 17% in the April 2014 results.
• Collection from mobile devices in eDiscovery is sharply on the rise as 54% of respondents have collected data from smart phones or tablets in their eDiscovery matters, up from 26% last December. 28% of respondents have requested data from mobile sources.
• Requesting and producing social media data is somewhat low, as only 23% of respondents have requested social media data, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter from opposing counsel and only 11% have produced social media data from those sites.
• Individual confidence continues to rise as 85% of respondents felt as confident or more confident in their ability to manage eDiscovery in their cases as compared to a year ago. But, agency confidence is still a concern as 78% of respondents feel somewhat or not at all effective in their agency’s ability to deal with the challenges of eDiscovery and 75% of respondents feel somewhat or not at all confident that if challenged their agency could demonstrate that their ESI was “accurate, accessible, complete, and trustworthy”.
• When it comes to discussing matters regarding eDiscovery with opposing counsel, the trend is considerably downward as only 42% of respondents felt adequately prepared to do so, down from 56% last time and less than half the percentage as it was in 2012 (when it was 87%). That’s clearly heading the wrong direction.

Once again, these are some sample findings.  For a complete list of findings, available in a condensed, two-page (this time) USA Today style infographic, click here to download.  Twice the pages as last time, but the report is still free!

So, what do you think?  Do you work for, or with, government agencies?  If so, do any of these findings surprise you?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by CloudNine. eDiscovery Daily is made available by CloudNine solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Daily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.