Our Insights on eDiscovery

Yesterday, we discussed effectively communicating with a service provider before a project even starts. To ensure successful results with service provider work, there are a few things you should do throughout the life of a project.

Some of the tasks that you manage may be better handled by a service provider. A service provider may be able to deliver high quality work on a schedule that might be impossible for you to meet. This doesn’t mean that you need to give up control of a project. In fact, you shouldn’t. A good service provider will encourage you to stay involved and to communicate frequently with them throughout the project.

The meet and confer is required 90-100 days after the case has been filed and, at that meeting the parties must disclose to each other “a description…and location of, all documents, electronically stored information and tangible things…that the disclosing party may use to support its claims or defenses”. That’s not much time. The best way for organizations to address this potential issue is proactively, before litigation even begins, by preparing a data map.

I found an interesting article on Ezine Articles by Sharon Gonzalez, a freelance technical writer with 15 years experience writing on various technical subjects, especially in the areas of cloud computing, Software as a Service (SaaS), and Internet technologies. The article entitled EDiscovery on SaaS, discusses some of the benefits of SaaS solutions for eDiscovery.

An important part of managing a project is effectively managing the people doing the work and keeping them motivated. This is especially critical when you need a lot of people for a task – for example, a document review project. One weak link can result in poor work that needs to be redone.

Project documentation is a weakness that I’ve seen time and again in firms that I’ve helped. And, I’ve seen it cause problems over and over again. I’ve worked with attorneys who have done a great job of collecting and producing documents, but, nonetheless, they have trouble successfully resolving discovery disputes. Why? Because they didn’t keep records of what they did and how they did it.

eDiscovery sanctions are at an all-time high, according to a Duke Law Journal law review article. The article summarizes a study of 401 cases involving motions for sanctions related to discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) in federal courts through 2009, with a total of 230 sanction awards in those cases. In an increasing number of cases, more attention is focused on eDiscovery than on the merits, with a motion for sanctions becoming very common.

I have run into this issue more times than I can count. A client sends me a list of search terms that they want to use to cull a set of data for review in a Microsoft Word document. I copy the terms into the search tool and then, all hell breaks loose!! Either: The search indicates there is a syntax error — OR — The search returns some obviously odd results. And, then, I remember. It’s those stupid Word “smart quotes”.

It’s critical to know where you are on a project so you can compare your progress to your budget and schedule and make adjustments if necessary. Sometime the unexpected will cause you to fall behind. In some cases, you’ll be able to take steps to fix problems and get back on track. For example, you may be able to simplify a task without sacrificing quality or the utility of the work.