eDiscovery Daily Blog

• February 28, 2020

Earlier this week, Women in eDiscovery (WiE) announced the results of its first ever salary survey!  Let’s take a look.

WiE conducted the 2019 Salary Survey between September 17th and September 27th, 2019, and received 400+ responses from men and women internationally in the eDiscovery industry. Of those responses, 93% of respondents identified as women, and the graphs and information depicted in their report are specific to that 93% who identified as women. The intention was to provide insight into experience, titles, compensation, and benefits specific to women in the eDiscovery industry.

WiE’s survey report provides information on skills, certificates and experience that women may need to advance their eDiscovery careers. It also identifies current trends and compensation, specific to women, which will assist hiring managers to make more informed decisions. WiE intends on releasing the survey annually, allowing for comparative analyses over the years.

“Women in eDiscovery is pleased to provide our first compensation survey for eDiscovery and legal professionals,” says Beth Finkle, executive director, Women in eDiscovery (quoted in this article from Legal IT Professionals). “It provides a unique comparison of salaries, bonuses, job skills, job levels, geographic factors and other industry trends in the eDiscovery and legal sectors.”

“The survey was fully anonymous, with no identifiable data gathered. The questions were designed to minimize response time, while still providing meaningful insights across eDiscovery and legal professionals. We want to thank a handful of WiE members that helped the executive directors formulate the survey and to the legal community who participated in the survey,” continued Finkle.

A couple of notable stats from the eight-page report, which is available here:

• 84% of respondents work primarily in-office vs. remotely. For the 16% of respondents who answered that they work primarily remotely, California, Arizona, and Texas were the 3 states with the most remote workers.
• Review Platform Certifications were consistently the top certifications held across job titles with the exceptions of Law Clerks and Paralegal/Legal Assistants, for which Paralegal Certifications was the top certification (both at 19% of total respondents). 12% of respondents held the ACEDS Certification and only 5% of respondents held a Project Management Certification, even though it was the top task performed across all job titles.

The report is chock-full of infographics (have I told you lately how much I love infographics?), especially with regard to compensation, so check it out!

Here’s a Friday bonus link not related to anything eDiscovery related.  Do you ever have trouble guessing who the villain is in some movies?  Here’s a clue for you that may make it easier.  Enjoy!  :o)

So, what do you think?  Do you wonder where you stand in your profession, compensation-wise?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Sponsor: This blog is sponsored by CloudNine, which is a data and legal discovery technology company with proven expertise in simplifying and automating the discovery of data for audits, investigations, and litigation. Used by legal and business customers worldwide including more than 50 of the top 250 Am Law firms and many of the world’s leading corporations, CloudNine’s eDiscovery automation software and services help customers gain insight and intelligence on electronic data.

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.