What is eDiscovery Software?

Discovery is the legal process that governs the right of collecting and producing non-privileged information that is relevant to the litigation. When it comes to electronically stored information, this process is referred to as eDiscovery and can include computer files, databases, and emails. It is a legal process where both parties exchange evidence in state and federal courts.

The eDiscovery process is considered to be fairly complicated. Given the large volumes of data your firm might be dealing with, an advanced eDiscovery technology can help you navigate that process.

eDiscovery starts with the identification of potentially relevant data sources, key timeframes, key custodians, keywords, and more. Once the legal hold has been issued, you have to determine what data you have to collect. Through a comprehensive eDiscovery process, you will collect all the different types of ESI. All the related information has to be uploaded and exchanged during litigation. This is crucial because even a small fact can have a big impact on the case’s direction. The data has to be sorted in order to make sure that you can find the one needle in the haystack that makes all the difference.

Before eDiscovery software came into play, lawyers had to sort through physical documents, which led to a very time-consuming and cumbersome process. But today, the process has become quite different, as all the information is now available in a digitized format. An eDiscovery solution can help you access these files and produce them during litigation.

eDiscovery software, such as Casepoint, helps legal firms handle electronic information to be used in discovery and litigation. This software will automate the common discovery steps, including data collection, file indexing, virus scanning, OCRing, and preparing documents for review. Once you have uploaded the data into a platform, both parties can review the data, search for the right documents, use metadata fields to sort information, and tag files. It also drastically reduces the number of documents that require manual review by culling extraneous files, like duplicate files, files out of the scope, and others. After this data has been reviewed and tagged, the software can convert, apply redactions and stamp documents.

With a cloud-based eDiscovery software like Casepoint, you will have the added advantage of uploading, reviewing, and producing documents online. This will save you a lot of costs, delays, and frustrations that come with other eDiscovery approaches, such as legacy software, third-party vendors, or manual review.

Thankfully, there is more than one way to approach the eDiscovery process.

Manual Document Review

Before ESI became mainstream, document discovery was considered to be fairly straightforward. A lawyer would identify the documents that were potentially relevant to the case and review them manually. Redactions were made and Bates stamps were applied. But, now that the volume of data has significantly increased, manual review of ESI has become daunting and overwhelming.

Alternatives to Manual Review

Thankfully, there are alternatives to manual review that can help ease the eDiscovery process. With a powerful eDiscovery software like Casepoint, you no longer have to take on the manual approach. It offers options like smart filtering, which can limit the documents by focusing on those containing certain keywords. This will eliminate the need to review the mountain of documents. Also, this technology is fairly easy to use, instantly deployable, and often charged on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Inefficiencies With Manual Document Review

Unfortunately, there are still several attorneys who prefer manual review to eDiscovery solutions. They use outdated programs to collect and review electronic files one by one. However, even if the number of documents is small, this is a highly ineffective and inefficient process. Without the ability to organize information by metadata or search multiple files at once, the whole process becomes quite cumbersome. The team might end up reviewing a large volume of unnecessary documents like irrelevant or duplicate files.

Use Outlook and Adobe for Document Review

Consider this situation. You have to review 10 GB of email in Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Outlook. That could be up to 30,000 documents that must be reviewed. At $250 an hour and 30-100 emails reviewed per hour, that would cost somewhere between $75,000 to $250,000. Your client might not be willing to pay such a high expense. Moreover, your legal firm might not have the resources needed for this form of document review.

These are third-party legal service providers that help you process, and prepare ESI for eDiscovery. Depending on the services they offer, they might even handle collection, analytics, and review.

How Much Do eDiscovery Vendors Cost?

Pricing models will vary depending on the eDiscovery vendor. Apart from storing your data, the price might include fees for set up, training, loading, support, exporting fees, production fees, predictive coding, and more. You should confirm the fees, along with the additional costs applicable in special situations. Make sure that they have a transparent pricing model that allows you to project your expenditure accurately.

In the modern process of civil litigation, competency in eDiscovery is crucial. Achieving an accurate and efficient discovery result without an eDiscovery solution would be almost impossible. The only way to ensure that you are able to meet your legal obligations in this digital world is through an advanced eDiscovery platform. Leveraging technology can be cost-effective and efficient. If you are not able to manage and produce data effectively, courts might impose sanctions or fines. So, having the best eDiscovery software is not optional anymore, it’s a necessity.