1. The Hidden Costs of E-Discovery and Proven Strategies for Cost Cutting
IQPC 4th E-Discovery Conference
Jersey City, October, 2007
PANELISTS:
James M. Wright, P.E. - FTI Consulting, Inc.
Mark Reichenbach - MetaLINCS
Nick VanBuskirk - MessageOne

2. Some Basic Considerations
Three general kinds of costs:
Internal Costs
People, Hardware, Technology
Technology Vendors
Services, technology fees
Legal Review
Law firms, technology fees
Legal review is always the greatest component, and data volume reduction is the key to reducing those costs

3. General Cost Cutting Strategies
Reduce the amount of ESI requiring processing and review
Develop a cost-effective Discovery Plan
Tiered approach to key players
Tiered search criteria and/or protocols
Legal Review resources
Employ technology to increase efficiency of processing and review

4. The E-Discovery Team Client Counsel E - Discovery Vendors Client
Owns Risk, Pays Costs, so can make risk decisions quickly
Knows ESI best, has IT resources
Ability to move early and quickly
Counsel
Strategic Legal Knowledge
Familiarity with Court
Knowledge of legal issues in E-Discovery
E-Discovery Tech Vendor[s]
Powerful technology options
Ability to apply resources as needed
Experience in processing ESI
Ability to provide expert testimony to E-Discovery matters
Client
Counsel E -
Discovery
Vendors
Management
Discovery Management
Develops & Manages Discovery Plan
Activities
Resources
Schedule
Identifies Risk & Cost Issues
Coordinates Discovery Team

5. Early Actions Timeline Under the new FRCP
Meet
& Confer
Scheduling Conference
Filing
Duty to preserve
?? days
21 days
time
Identify & Collect ESI
Analyze ESI : Qty/Type
Develop ED Plan
Prep for Meet & Confer

6. Reducing ESI Quantity
Identify & negotiate subsets of the ESI collection not requiring processing or review
Date Range
File Types
Identify subsets of the ESI collection too burdensome to process and review
Burdens: Cost or business disruption
May need to prove the burden to the court

7. Developing the Discovery Plan
Tiered Key Player List
Lower tiers use more targeted search criteria
Search criteria with a tiered approach
Low Hanging Fruit first
A keyword search process that avoids high hit rates
Sensible methodology for non-indexable file types
Sampling
Narrower, targeted search/filtering criteria
Cost-effective Form[s] of Production
Rolling production schedule
Using common tech vendor[s]
Consider Clawback agreements
Use Contract attys for first review

8. Using Technology Consider internal technology tools
Publishing Litigation Holds
Collection
Initial filtering/culling
Early cataloging of ESI allows more time to identify cost-cutting measures
Utilities can catalog even prior to collection
Negotiate with tech vendors
Filtered ingestion [date range, file type]
Sensible pricing structures
ESI qty pricing consistency [Base 10, or power of 2?]
Hosted review platforms
A variety available, cost and efficiency vary, select the best for the matter