Yet while the volume and range of electronic data now being seen as admissible evidence has massively increased, many law firms still have an inconsistent approach to e-disclosure exercises.
Variation can occur within litigation teams as well as between departments and often the projects are managed by people inexperienced in the process, meaning:
- The results are not always as good or as cost effective as they should be;
- Opportunities to exploit working relationships with external service providers are lost;
- Clients can fail to see the value in the exercise;
- Opportunities to pressure the other party are left unexploited;
- Teams can be wrong footed when faced by opposition with access to specialist litigation support and a well planned approach to disclosure.
New Managing Partner report A Guide to Effective E-disclosure for the Legal Profession is designed specifically to assist you in formalising your firms approach to the disclosure of electronic documents, with a clear view to:
- Increasing efficiency;
- Reducing costs;
- Gaining consistent high quality results;
- Avoiding unexpected, and expensive, surprises.
Each phase of an electronic disclosure exercise is examined in detail:
- Information management;
- Identification;
- Preservation;
- Collection;
- Processing;
- Review;
- Analysis;
- Production;
- Presentation.
An essential, clear understanding and detailed review of the obligations imposed on litigators by the Practice Direction to rule 31 of the CPR is provided.
The purpose and use of a disclosure protocol is explored, including the tactical advantages when used to exploit weaknesses in opposition knowledge.
Best practice for the review of documents is explained taking into account purchasing an in-house review tool versus a hosted online service for each different matter.
The report also examines the key issues when selecting an external service provider and how bottom line should not always be the main comparison.
