Nickle from New York with Andre, Wortzman Nickle’s Senior E-discovery Analyst and Project Manager at North America’s largest legal technology conference and trade show.
This overwhelming spectacle (this year, complete with demonstrators protesting GB fees in front of the venue!) offers lawyers, forensic vendors, records managers and other e-discovery providers the opportunity to network, attend education sessions, and scope out “the next big thing” in the technology exhibit areas. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners with our colleagues and friends is our favorite way to keep abreast of new technology.
While we are trying to look at everything, our focus this year rests at both ends of the e-discovery spectrum – Early Case Assessment and Review tools. We are always searching for faster, cheaper and more efficient solutions. There is amazing software available – stay tuned for our conclusions!
New e-discovery products are coming to market on almost a weekly basis. They serve different functions and fit into different parts of the EDRM model (notionally being: preservation, identification, collection, processing/culling, review, and production). In researching these options, we are learning that the terminology used by forensic companies is often as diverse as the products they are selling.
In particular, the term “review” is causing some confusion. In the legal context, “review” means the fifth stage in the EDRM model referencing the “lawyer review”. This is the phase after collection and processing/culling when lawyers review and code the records for relevance, privilege and to issues codes. At the review phase, we look for a robust review platform that allows customized coding fields and the integration of near de-duplication and/or concept clustering software. These features save our clients significant time and money as they avoid a linear review.
However, in the forensic context, “review” often means the ability to view records (images or in native format) during the early case assessment or processing/culling phases.
Does this potential conflict in e-terminology matter? Yes. Suddenly, a solution billed as “end to end” is actually an early case assessment or processing tool – one which will require an export of data to an appropriate (but different) review platform down the road. This can mean an increase in time and cost for the litigant company – the one that believed it had purchased a single “end to end” e-discovery solution.
The lesson learned is this – ask lots of questions and clarify the terminology at every stage. Alternatively, call Wortzman Nickle and we’ll help you with the e-translation.
LegalTech | admin February 2, 2010 | 
Comments (0) 
