eDiscovery Daily Blog
Litigation Support Professionals Are Certifiable, Too – eDiscovery Trends
We’ve covered programs from The Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP) in the past, including this prior post regarding their certification program for eDiscovery project management. Now, the OLP has announced that it has finalized preparations for a new Litigation Support Certification Exam.
As announced on their site, the Certified Litigation Support Certification Exam (CLSP®), developed in conjunction with Pearson Learning Solutions, a $7 billion company that specializes in certification examinations for a wide variety of industries, incorporates content created by OLP members including eDiscovery and legal technology lawyers, consultants and experts. According to the announcement, OLP is the first organization to offer a Litigation Support Certification Exam.
The exam and prep course aren’t just for anybody who can study and take a test, candidates must complete an application form found in the Candidate Handbook and demonstrate prior work experience and/or education. The requirements for demonstrating prior experience depend on whether or not you hold a J.D., baccalaureate degree, A.A./A.S. degree and/or are employed in the position of attorney or paralegal. Specific eligibility requirements can be found here.
According to Chere Estrin, President of the OLP, the prep course offers self-paced, 24×7 accessible online learning tools and resources so learners can work at their own pace and schedule. Each course requires about 4 hours of dedicated study time. The course curriculum is comprised of all important and relevant learning objectives as identified by top legal field professionals and that cover all vital aspects ensuring knowledge development while best preparing the learner for the certification exam.
The topics covered are quite comprehensive and include:
- Technology Topics including: Media, Hardware, Software and Terminology
- Appropriate Uses of Software
- eDiscovery Topics including: eDiscovery Definitions, File Extensions and Terminology
- Case Law Topics including: Legal Procedure and Rulings, FRCP, The Sedona Conference and Other Resources
- Legal Project Management Topics including: Information Management, Backup, Records Management and Legal Hold
- Cost Controls and Budget Metrics
- Early Case Assessment Topics including: Early Case Assessment, Matter Life Cycle, Matter Planning and Software Applications
- Metadata Topics including: Metadata Forensics
- Data Storage Topics including: Data Processing and Document Coding
- Best Practices Topics including: Production Format, Records Retention
- Risk Control and Management
- Search Tools Topics including Software Applications, Review Tools, Forensics, Authentication and Hardware/Software
The cost for the prep course is $695 for OLP members ($895 for non-members) and the cost of the exam is $395 for OLP members ($595 for non-members) – individual membership is $125 per year, so it pays to be a member if you’re going to sign up for either the prep course or the exam. Candidates for the exam will be able to schedule the date of the examination starting May 15, 2014 through the purchase of a voucher. The exam will be administered in a secured facility in over 1,000 global locations including the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK, Japan, Europe, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Venezuela, and South Africa.
For more information about the CLSP® prep course and exam, click here. You can also download the Candidate Handbook, available here.
So, what do you think? Are you a litigation support professional? If so, does the idea of a certification program appeal to 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 Discovery. eDiscoveryDaily is made available by CloudNine Discovery solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscoveryDaily should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.