Thought Leadership and Industry Trends
In March 2020, as offices around the world closed due to the global pandemic, CDS transitioned to fully remote document reviews. One year later, we have learned many lessons about what works and where adjustments and improvements can still be made.
The pandemic has tested us personally, professionally and organizationally. Successfully transitioning to this new reality required certain immediate, practical adjustments that not every employee, leader or company could reasonably make.
Electronic discovery is a data-driven, technology-dependent endeavor, but the most vital, valuable component rests entirely with human beings. Attorneys, project managers and litigation support professionals are responsible for the crucial coding decisions, productions and presentations that support or refute the legal arguments in a matter.
Mastery over eDiscovery, the legal discovery process in which relevant electronically stored information is identified, preserved, collected, processed, reviewed and produced between parties in a legal proceeding, is becoming a crucial competency for the modern practice of law.
Data Intelligence in the context of eDiscovery can have many different meanings. Defined broadly, data intelligence is the quest to organize, analyze, understand, and transform raw data into a format that can tell a story and inform critical legal decision making.
When addressing document review in the Federal space, agencies can come up against serious challenges. From budgetary limitations to data security, ramping up a team of attorneys to review documents on a tight time frame and on projects with ever changing scope can seem like a daunting undertaking for stakeholders and contract officers alike.
For most attorneys and litigation support professionals, their first look at potentially relevant electronically stored information (ESI) occurs after data has been preserved, collected, processed and loaded into a review platform. This crucial stage in any eDiscovery matter helps inform review strategies, the need for further collection and ultimately, production deadlines.
The challenge for any legal professional approaching a complex discovery matter is to parse through the mountains of potentially relevant electronically stored information to gain insight and build a narrative that supports their arguments with evidence.
The adversarial process, the diverse parties, novel fact patterns – every litigation, every investigation, every deal offers the practitioner a chance to refine their expertise, extend their capabilities and apply their skill set.
For government agencies, pilot programs are a great way to experiment with new technology. Frequently, there are questions around implementation, access and overall functionality. Implementing a pilot program allows an agency to identify these challenges early, develop synergy with their provider and define the service model that will be necessary for larger scale adoption.
As you begin to build a strong foundation for technological competence through educational efforts, it is essential to gain further understanding and skills through experience. I break experience into two categories: engagement and application.
Competence is the ethical foundation upon which everything we do as lawyers is based. To be competent is to have the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully. Traditionally, lawyers do this by refining their specific areas of expertise and pursuing continuing legal education.
