Streamlining The eDiscovery Process: Tactics For Effective Implementation

By Dean Gonsowski, Clearwell Systems

The Challenges of Electronic Discovery

Lawsuits, corporate investigations, and regulatory audits are on the rise and becoming all the more challenging to manage due to the amount of ESI (electronical stored information) created in our digital era. These two trends have fueled the escalating costs of eDiscovery, and put the onus on corporations to take greater control of the eDiscovery process. Adding to the complexity of the situation, eDiscovery teams — which are comprised of legal, IT, security, and records management personnel — often struggle to collaborate because of disparate tools that are used to manage various stages of the process. As a result, teams often find themselves getting squeezed as they struggle to cope with increasing workloads while attempting to control spiraling eDiscovery costs. Moreover, the growing risk of court sanctions places even greater importance on the need for transparency and defensibility of the eDiscovery process, adding to an already complex task for legal counsel and IT. In the end, organizations that cannot master this difficult process are putting the outcome of matters at risk.