Our Insights on eDiscovery

Some time ago, we talked about the importance of preparing a data map of your organization’s data to be ready when litigation strikes. The data map itself doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as a spreadsheet (or series of spreadsheets, one for each department or custodian, depending on what level of information is likely to be requested). Here are examples of types of information that you might see in a typical data map spreadsheet.

Many of you have Android phones. I do, as well. As you may know, Android is Google’s operating system for phones and Android phones have become extraordinarily popular. However, it may be a failure in searching that ironically may cost Google billions in its litigation with Oracle over the Android operating system.

In the past few weeks we’ve talked about various marketing techniques and mechanisms that — in my experience — work well in a law firm. In closing, I have just a few additional thoughts I’d like to share with you on the subject.

In the last post in this series, we began talking about marketing techniques for keeping the customers you have. The first point we covered was continuously reminding your customers of the services that you offer. The second thing you need to do is to look for new ways to help the customers that you have.

With document review estimated to up to 80% of the total cost of the eDiscovery process and the amount of data in the world growing at an exponential rate, it’s no wonder that many firms are turning to technology to make the review process more efficient. How the documents are organized can make a big difference in the efficiency of review, not only in saving costs, but also improving accuracy. This process of organizing documents with similar content into “clusters” helps each reviewer make quicker review decisions and also promotes consistency in the review process.

The trustee responsible for coordinating the recovery of assets and data involved in Bernard L. (“Bernie”) Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi fraud investigation is presently seeking to secure special masters and create an “eData room” to ensure that the enormous volume of data accumulated during this worldwide investigation is collected and retained.