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Legal Tech: How E-Discovery Trends Are Reshaping E-Discovery Teams
E-discovery, as an industry, is once again at an inflection point. As both an industry and technical endeavor that is now older than 20 years, it has rarely stood still for more than a couple years. Looking back at that (simpler?) time, the 1990s saw more and more relevant information being produced and maintained in electronic format, until finally in 2003-04, the Zubulake rulings delivered a clarion call to organizations that they had an obligation to preserve (and produce) relevant electronically stored information (ESI) just as thoroughly as they did traditional paper documents.
Since then, we've seen changes in technology (from specialized point tools to broad e-discovery platforms); processes (from fragmented, multi-party, and reactive to proactive), and people (from highly technical specialists to members of in-house legal teams). And the changes keep on coming. What are the big trends that are exerting pressure on e-discovery teams today — and more importantly, what will an effective e-discovery team look like in the coming years?
Rising Demands on In-House Legal Teams
Despite advances in technology and wider adoption of best practices, the demands on in-house legal teams continue to rise for a variety of reasons. The number of disputes, especially class action suits, is increasing, as are data volumes and data sources. The regulatory landscape continues to evolve, both in terms of general data privacy regulations and industry-specific regulations. Business imperatives to control costs exert downward pressure on budgets as well. These forces aren't necessarily new, after all. We live in a litigious society. Laws change to meet the challenges of the day. Businesses have — and always will — demand efficiency.
Legal departments are finding ways to cope. They're using technology to take better control of the e-discovery process, but also embracing a legal operations mindset to increase efficiency, both in terms of timelines and budgets. Additionally, the rise of alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) has given in-house teams access to specialized legal professionals at lower cost than working through traditional law firms, so they can augment their capabilities without breaking their budgets when necessary.
Accelerating Technology Change
Since its inception, e-discovery has been inextricably tied to technology — both the tools that e-discovery professionals use and the broad range of technologies they interface with to get to the facts of a given matter. In terms of the tools in use, the movement away from multiple disparate point tools and toward unified e-discovery platforms with user-friendly interfaces has taken e-discovery from the domain of technicians into something a legal professional can accomplish.
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