The Inside Track: eDiscovery from an in-house perspective
By: Kym Wellons, CEO
eDiscovery isn’t just about large cases and document productions. If you haven’t embraced using eDiscovery methods for managing eData in your day-to-day legal practice, you’re behind. Now’s the time to catch up!
As a lawyer for over twenty years, I’ve watched the practice of law change from dusty boxes of documents and redwells stuffed with documents to email, chat messages, electronic documents and data in various applications. In my work as in-house counsel, I saw the character of the information I relied on daily to do my job change from hard copy documents to electronic data as the businesses I supported became more digital. But, while I was using systems to access and review data in my day-to-day work, I found that most outside counsel were not. If our work revolves around eData sources, why aren’t we using eDiscovery review tools earlier and more often?
There are generally three reasons why we don’t use eDiscovery techniques earlier in a matter: 1) we don’t think we need it; 2) we think it will take too long; and 3) we think it will cost too much.
Myth #1: I don’t need eDiscovery in this matter. We are living in an age where evidence in most cases, investigations and claims is going to come from email, text messages, word documents, shared document sites, presentations, spreadsheets, social media and apps. Original paper documents – not printed versions of eData – are no longer key evidence in most matters. If you’re relying on printouts of documents that a client or an opponent sends to you instead of the eData, you’re missing out on potentially critical information. Not only are you missing out on metadata that could be important, but you’re potentially missing out on relevant documents – documents that may make (or break) your case or turn your advice upside down.
Myth #2: It is a long and complicated process. Once the data is retrieved from the source system, it can be ingested and searched within a few days (depending on the size). Once a review set is loaded into the software built to manage electronic data, you are then free to search, categorize and retrieve all the data you need when you need it. Loading a PST file into outlook or printing 250 pdfs is harder and more time consuming than using eDiscovery software. Hard. Really? Give yourself some credit. Most of us use apps on our phone every day – think of Uber, Google Maps, Yelp. We use software systems like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Using eDiscovery software is no different.
Myth #3: It is expensive. So, there’s truth to this myth. It can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be.
How can RDI help?
We make eDiscovery cost effective. We pride ourselves on helping you with eData at all levels by making our eDiscovery services cost-effective and flexible to your needs, scaling cost to your data size and use. We don’t “nickel and dime” you on additional a la carte services, such as producing images or OCR’ing. We don’t just offer flat fee pricing; we encourage it.
We make eData review easy. Our proprietary software system Evolve® is built for today’s users – it functions like many of the other apps you’re already using, so we find that most users can be up and running in less than half an hour. When you get stuck, our support team is available by email, phone and chat. We know your data and we talk to you in a language you can understand.
We make eData accessible. We know that attorneys today work in more ways than ever and your work follows you everywhere. It is time for you to take control of eData and make it work for you. Using eData review platforms like RDI’s Evolve® review platform means that you can work from your phone, on the train or during travel without lugging around redwells and binders. It allows you to share documents or groups of documents with your client for review or comment. You can create spreadsheets from data fields, chronologies of documents or witness preparation folders with the push of a button.
So, the next time you find yourself saying, it’s too expensive/too time consuming/too hard to use eDiscovery tools in a small or medium size case or an investigation, think again.
RDI is eDiscovery made simple. Give us a call and find out.