6 Methods to Guide your eDiscovery Vendor Selection

Screening ediscovery companies can be a difficult task. As a load of problem cases and the size of the problem increases, the importance of the decision may require more stakeholders to play a role in the selection process. As an ediscovery software vendor, we have seen many methods to choosing one of the top ediscovery vendors. One simple information we always want to include is YMMV. Mileage may vary. We can speak at a high level about our capabilities, pricing, support, and differentiation methods, but the reality is that every law firm has its own unique requirements. It is highly recommended to take a step back to assess the need for cases and potential future cases. Depending on whether you need a point solution, some specific features, or the entire product family, a live demo and an hour of time should be considered the minimum time required to begin identifying the features of a given electronic search software product.

1) Determine high-level requirements

Determine the main use cases, the workflow you want, and create a list of features that you need to complete your project. Proteus covers the processing, review, and production stages of electronic documents, including the ability to collect data into bulk documents, filter metadata, search for keyword terms, and export works to industry-standard load file formats. Because more than 75% of eDiscovery project work is typically spent during the review phase, the electronic search tool that covers this feature is commonly referred to as the document review tool. Keep in mind that there are other eDiscovery vendors that specialize in a variety of steps, such as retention, collection, or trial presentation. Record your requirements and use the right terminology to make sure you're looking for a solution that fits your unique requirements. For the purposes of this article, I assume that you are looking for a document review technique.

2) Decide whether to prepare a lawsuit

Explore the teams that will participate in the law firm's eDiscovery process. How many users should access each legal matter? Does the review team have prior experience with other tools? Knowledge and proficiency in legal skills is now a requirement for lawyers in accordance with ABA Rule 1.1[Note 8]. We know that eDiscovery training can be an ongoing process. Ease of use and access to quality support can be a higher priority when teams become familiar with legacy workflows and are just beginning to integrate ediscovery software.

3) Caseload determination

Consider the number of matters your law firm wants to host and the estimated data size for each matter. This is a consideration if your law firm's discovery business expands and more problems are expected to be added in the future. Although many legal vendors calculate costs in a variety of ways, data and case size are good leading indicators of costs. Knowing electronic data is an important step in informing your team and preparing for data processing, early case evaluation, and document review settings.

4) Price sensitivity determination

Price is often an important factor when choosing a vendor. Collect ballpark figures for how to compare costs in different vendor-specific situations. Not all ediscovery vendors publish prices publicly, so you may need to dig deeper or contact your representative. Proteus team can view the full pricing information table here. In general, the time spent selecting a legal technology supplier must be proportional to the estimated cost. High cost? Consider a more rigorous screening process. Single problem with less than 25GB of data? Contact Proteus !

5) Feature comparison

A typical electronic search platform includes the following and should be considered a basic requirement for technology to review electronic data:

a) Processing-PST and ZIP file extensions, deduplication, DeNisting, file extension culling, index/OCR for keywords/filtering, load file collection.

b) Review-Tools and reports for early case evaluation, search, sort, view, display, modify documents and generate permission logs

c) Production - Native production, TIFF image generation, Warranty, Bates stamp generation. Export production to industry-standard load file format

Different features may be of some value in different law firms. Pay attention to the interfaces and search workflows associated with each step and find the electronic search company that best suits your needs. Are your requirements static or flexible? Electronic discovery technologies, such as Proteus, allow workflow flexibility and leave data and information management decisions to end-users.

6) Consider cost recovery policies

Cost recovery is now widely accepted and recognized as the standard for ediscovery software cost recovery. If your law firm has no specific cost recovery policies in place, consider implementing them or use your technology solution to guide the creation of these policies.

A simple way to recoup the costs is to subscribe to a Single Matter type subscription. Each invoice corresponds to a file. Proteus goes even further.

We provide an additional software tool called Management Console that tracks all live metrics, giving legal professionals all the tools to keep their clients informed and manage expectations.

Conclusion

There are six strategies for choosing one of the ediscovery providers. Proteus has a senior consultant waiting to answer your questions and schedule an hour of production demos. We will discuss all the points of this article and help you meet the requirements. Demo Booking