Our Insights on eDiscovery

Today’s thought leader is Brett Burney. Brett is Principal of Burney Consultants LLC, and focuses the bulk of his time on bridging the chasm between the legal and technology frontiers of electronic discovery. Brett is also very active in the Mac-using lawyer community, working with lawyers who want to integrate Macs, iPhones & iPads into their practice. Prior to establishing Burney Consultants LLC, Brett spent over 5 years at the law firm of Thompson Hine LLP where he worked with litigation teams in building document databases, counseling on electronic discovery issues, and supporting their technology at trial & hearings. Brett graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law in 2000 and quickly became active in the world of legal technology. Brett speaks around the country on litigation support, eDiscovery, Mac, and iOS-related topics and today authors a variety of blogs and online courses for legal professionals. Brett also served as the Chair of the ABA TECHSHOW 2015 Conference Planning Board and recently published the book “Macs in Law” for the American Bar Association. Brett is also the co-author the 2018 eDiscovery Buyers Guide.

What does this mean for the future of ALSPs? They are likely to continue to expand as the complexity and specialization of legal services grows. How will they grow and what’s driving the growth? Let’s take a look.

Today’s thought leader is Mary Mack of ACEDS. Mary is the Executive Director of the Association of Certified eDiscovery Specialists (ACEDS). E-discovery luminary and recipient of the Masters Conference Educator of the Year 2016, Mary provides ACEDS and its membership more than a decade of strong credibility and sound leadership within the e-discovery community. Mary is the author of A Process of Illumination: The Practical Guide to Electronic Discovery, considered by many to be the first popular book on e-discovery. She is the co-editor of the Thomson Reuters West treatise, eDiscovery for Corporate Counsel.

Who is actually using an ALSP? What is the specific breakdown of these services? And, why are organizations using them? Let’s take a look and answer those questions here.

The first consideration in understanding new generation ALSPs is to understand how ALSP is defined. In general, ALSPs are niche companies that specialize in providing a number of high-demand legal services. Let’s take a look at those.

One of the biggest topics of discussion at the recent Legaltech® conference in New York was Alternative Legal Service Providers or ALSPs. I was interested in the topic really because I was confused as to what the term ALSP meant. Like several other people I spoke with at the show, I originally considered an ALSP to be just a newer name that marketers had given to legal process outsourcing or LPO. However, there’s a lot more to ALSPs than a matter of rebranding. Let’s take a look.