Dec. 2011/Jan. 2012 / E-Discovery
Changing The Discovery Paradigm
Law firm value is driven by the client’s desired outcome, and that may be as simple as predictable costs or as difficult as an unequivocal trial victory. Adopting this paradigm empowers a law firm to better analyze, organize and deliver outstanding value to its clients.
“Value chain analysis” is applicable to law firms, including to the work involved in discovery, the author says. Discovery is a service that tends to be idiosyncratic, with each matter handled differently. Sometimes discovery is performed by associates at the law firm’s office. A benefit to this structure is that the matter team is performing the review and is immediately aware of relevant documents. But this efficiency comes at a substantial cost, as associates can bill at more than $300 hour.
Another scenario has this work done by less expensive contract attorneys, under supervision, at an off-site facility. This fulfills the client’s desire to balance lower cost attorneys with experienced firm lawyers.
Contract attorneys, however, vary in quality, and there are a seemingly unlimited number of systems that can be used to host and review documents. Thus, the obvious conclusion is that discovery is a standard process without any real standardization.
According to the author, law firms, particularly Am Law 100 firms with locations in major metropolitan cities, must seek low-cost, high quality and standardized alternatives to these discovery activities. To drive down costs for discovery services, his firm opened an attorney-staffed business services center in a U.S. market with less expensive housing and living costs.
