eDiscovery Daily Blog

• April 13, 2011

 

Yesterday, we talked about the importance of checking references when considering eDiscovery and Litigation Support Service Providers.  In the next blogs in this series, I’m going to suggest some questions you may consider asking when doing a reference check.  First, however, let me make some general suggestions:

• When you ask a vendor for references, ask for clients that had a project similar in size and scope to yours.  You want to speak with people who had similar requirements regarding services and schedules, and that had document or data collections similar in size and format to yours.
• When you ask a vendor for references, let them know that you’d like to speak with two different types of people:
  • End-users of the vendor’s work product
  • The vendor’s main, day-to-day point of contact
• Don’t call a reference out of the blue.  Make an initial contact by email to introduce yourself and to schedule a call.  If the call is scheduled, you are more likely to get better attention and more time. 
• Be prepared with a list of specific questions.  Don’t call and ask only general question like “Were you satisfied with the quality?” and “Did they meet your deadlines?”
• Try to engage the person you are speaking with in conversation.  Don’t settle for yes and no answers.  When someone responds “yes” or “no” to a question, ask them to provide details.  This may uncover information that is important to you or it may trigger additional questions that you should ask.
• Always send follow-up emails to the people with whom you speak thanking them for their time and information. 

Next we’ll talk about specific questions you can consider asking when checking references, so stay tuned.

How do you approach checking references?  Please share any comments you might have and let us know if you’d like to know more about an eDiscovery topic.