FORDHAM FORENSICS When It Really Matters770-777-2090 Electronic Discovery
Clients are often surprised by what they pay to e-discovery vendors to preserve and process Electronically Stored Information (ESI) for litigation. Remarkably, that sum is trivial when compared to what they will pay their lawyer for the rest of discovery.
A 2012 study by the Rand Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice reported that, on average, vendors account for only 26 percent of e-discovery costs while outside counsel will consume 70 percent. Even more amazing is that 68 percent of e-discovery costs will be consumed by counsel performing manual document review at an average cost of more than 15,000 dollars per gigabyte.
Furthermore, these numbers consider only the cost of producing ESI during discovery. They do not consider other aspects of the litigation like motion practice, summary judgment, mediation, other experts, pre-trial hearings or the trial itself. In fact, they do not even consider other aspects of discovery like depositions, discovery disputes, or attending the discovery conference or scheduling conference.
The reason one hires an e-discovery expert in the first place is not so that counsel or anyone else for that matter can manually review documents at more than 15,000 dollars per gigabyte of which 75 percent are useless. Rather, the reason one hires an e-discovery expert is to use technology to efficiently and effectively solve the disclosure problem of producing ESI. Thus, avoiding e-discovery experts or focusing only on the low priced vendor can be counterproductive.
Modern litigation has a lot in common with auto racing. Just like auto racing is not all about driving, litigation is not all about lawyering.
In auto racing, the owner hires a technical director who designs and builds a car that optimizes the laws of physics, the rules of competition and the race strategy so that the driver can win the race.
The same should happen in e-discovery where the owner hires a technology expert that blends digital evidence expertise with rules of evidence, rules of procedure and case strategy so that the lawyer can win the case.
The reality is that there are a lot of ways to lose a race just like there are a lot of ways to lose a case. If one wastes the owner's budget with wasteful car construction, the race team may never hit the track. Even if they do run the race and take the checkered flag, if the costs exceed their benefit it is just losing a different way, at least for the owner.
When It Really Matters FFI helps clients and counsel not only run the race but win the race as well in every way that matters. We not only provide the special technical expertise for handling digital evidence like effective and defensible ESI identification, forensic grade imaging and collection, processing and document production but also provide the advanced technical expertise needed to plan and execute cyber litigation in the most efficient and effective manner. In addition, we can help spot the design flaws in the opponent's "race car" and exploit their weaknesses.
No longer is victory determined by the side having the largest army of associates or even the deepest pockets but the one that can best use their technology to defeat their opponent in the courtroom. Unfortunately for many, they have been using their technology like a club instead of like a machine gun.
Subject Matter Primers
Learn how an expert e-discovery consultant or vendor can help solve your e-discovery problems in Selecting an E-Discovery Vendor or Consultant: A Best Value Approach
The 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure encouraged advanced planning as a means to counter the amazing costs of e-discovery. The primary tool for conducting advanced planning in civil litigation is the discovery plan required by Rule 26(f). To learn how to structure your e-discovery plan for maximum efficiency and effectiveness see, Eleven Steps to Designing an E-Discovery Plan and Protocol: A System Engineering Approach to Modern Litigation
For more useful articles about e-discovery consult the articles tab of our website.
Service Specifics
The Firm of Fordham Forensics in Atlanta GA is a highly skilled, experienced and expert provider (vendor and consultant) of e-discovery services involving:
- ESI identification, Preservation & Collection,
- Technology Assisted Review & Production,
- Discovery Plan Design
Identification, Preservation and Collection
- Identification of ESI data sources for preservation that are properly matched to the people, places and issues in the case.
- Develop a data map of systems and devices targeted for preservation and collection.
- Plan optimal methods for collecting and preserving ESI that minimize costs and disruption
- Collect and preserve potentially relevant ESI from
· Personal computers,
· Network servers and storage systems,
· USB attached devices,
· Cell phones and tablets,
· E-mail systems,
· Cloud based storage systems, and
· Specialty applications and databases
Technology Assisted Review and Production
- Identify and locate responsive and relevant ESI for production.
- Identify privileged and confidential data for withholding or restriction from produced ESI.
- Provide the data production in .DAT load files.
Discovery Plan Design
- Adequately identify, preserve, and validate ESI containing potentially relevant evidence.
- Set important parameters for exchanging ESI in order to avoid costly disputes and reprocessing.
- Conduct preprocessing analytics and Early Case Assessment (ECA) to more precisely target relevant ESI and reducing wasteful processing and document review.
Typical projects involve:
- Trade secrets
- Government investigations
- Subpoena compliance
- Construction contracting
- Government contracting
CONTACT US
770-777-2090
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