When you need to engage a Managed Document Review solution, you want to work with the most experienced and reliable firm that will complete your project with the highest degree of accuracy, efficiency, and cost awareness. Hire Counsel has been solely focused on Managed Document Review for over 30 years. Because we’ve seen it all, our best-in-class experts want to share five little-known practices that will help clients maximize the value of their Managed Document Review experience.
Hire Counsel’s Managed Document Review solution leverages advanced technology and a customized team of qualified attorneys working as a collaborative unit, with specialized subject matter expertise, that is an attorney in good standing and CEDS certified.
Hire Counsel’s Managed Document Review professionals can accurately and efficiently complete the task on time and within budget. Over 30 years of experience has brought many best practices to light which we share with you here.
1. Involving Your Managed Document Review Project Manager Early Will Save Costs
Managed Review costs are primarily driven by volume. Thus, the changes you make before you start reviewing documents are the ones that will save the most time and money. Just like an ocean liner on the wrong course will take five miles to redirect, a Managed Document Review begun without proper scoping and an efficient workflow will cost time and money to correct. Each Managed Document Review collaboration is unique. The most successful Managed Document Review projects are those in which the project manager makes recommendations that sharpen the project’s scope and workflow, so it is constructed specifically for the nature and nuances of the case, in the required timeframe, and with the flexibility to adjust to unexpected developments.
Early collaboration between the client and the project manager on a matter’s issues and challenges ensures optimal quality control and allows the project manager to enlist the most qualified, fully licensed, and credentialed subject matter experts.
Working with your Managed Document Review project manager as early as possible enables them to assess the scope and scale of the project precisely and implement only those technologies and resources required to fully achieve your objectives cost-efficiently and within the allotted timeframe. Early consultation also exposes systemic inefficiencies within the client’s hardware that may require time to remedy by leveraging additional technology. Maximizing the opportunity for the project manager to consult with the case principals prevents unnecessary workflow activities from adding costs without adding value.
2. Think Outside the Box: You Are Not Stuck with Your Old Systems
The proliferation of new data storage programs in recent decades has led to a wide array of database technology systems in use throughout the global economy. Spending a little more upfront on the right technology designed to accelerate a review creates exponential cost savings throughout the process. A client’s use of older, legacy technology can create challenges to the efficiency of the project. The anticipated savings from managing with outdated technology will be eclipsed by the hours and costs spent in the review.
When your electronically stored information (ESI) is stored in technology that is not designed for review, Hire Counsel’s Managed Review project managers have the experience to consult on your options. Whatever system or set of programs your organization uses, contemporary Managed Document Review teams can gain access and implement technology-aided search programs that will transform the data into a workable format from which irrelevant material will be culled. Pertinent data will be identified from a subset of documents reviewed by skilled document reviewers selected specifically for your case.
Full cost transparency in the planning and execution of the document review process is essential. Project priorities always include accuracy, quality control, defensibility, timeline compliance, and cost efficiency. This sometimes requires enlisting a complimentary system to better process the data stored within a less compatible technology.
These are among the most valuable discoveries during the early, in-depth coordination between the Hire Counsel Managed Review project manager and the client. Early identification and resolution of problems created by potential obstacles saves project costs and prevents unnecessary delays.
3. Bundling Technology and Legal Talent Services Is Not Necessarily Better
Cable and insurance companies continually offer special deals to customers who bundle their services. That may be beneficial for those services, but it is not the way to choose Managed Document Review services.Beware of providers who claim to be best-in-class for every phase of the complex eDiscovery process and offer bundled services combining technology and legal talent. The singular nature of every Managed Document Review project means there is no one-size-fits-all bundle of services appropriate for the assignment you need to complete. For example, there is a significant difference between a multi-jurisdiction product liability discovery project and an internal corporate personnel misconduct investigation.
Bundling technology services and document review talent with a single provider increases the risk of error and inefficiency. Independent critique of an operating system produces checks against systemic flaws. Control of the technology and the reviewers by a single service provider inhibits the free flow of ideas and recommendations to improve a misdirected search.
Technology is essential to the initial stages of Managed Document Review, and several leading firms offer exceptional systems that use the latest innovations in technology-assisted review.
But once the technology reduces the volume of documents meeting the search criteria, only the expertise of specially qualified licensed attorney document reviewers should be trusted to accurately analyze and select the relevant documents and data to be submitted to the client’s principal.
Hire Counsel focuses exclusively on providing top-tier talent for complex Managed Document Review projects. We have a 30+ year record of leveraging the right talent in achieving defensible results in some of the biggest and most complex cases. Because talent is our exclusive priority, we stand head and shoulders above our competitors focused on providing technology services. Legal talent is individually chosen for your Hire Counsel Managed Document Review project based on their specialized legal expertise, experience in similar projects, reliability, and efficiency. The global pool of legal talent immediately available to clients of Hire Counsel includes thousands of fully licensed attorneys.
You must ensure your project manager’s workflow design meets your needs. Hire Counsel’s experienced Managed Document Review project managers serve as the single point of contact and closely maintain cost controls.
4. Client Engagement with the Review Team Yields Better Results
Engagement with the client encourages the team to become more invested and results in high-quality work product and greater throughput.
When your organization retains a Managed Document Review provider, your participation in the process should not end when the project manager assumes control over the daily operations. Just as the client’s principal representatives are key to providing a complete understanding of the documents and data of central importance in the search, the client’s continued engagement can help direct adjustments when Managed Document Review project managers make recommendations based on what they learn from the team.
The client’s intimate knowledge of the contested issues involved in the litigation or of the nuances distinguishing a relevant data point from one of no value is essential. Eliminating unproductive steps in the project’s workflow reduces costs by tightening the scope of the reviewers’ focus and delivering a defensible set of documents sooner.
5. Adapt to Changes as the Managed Document Review Unfolds
Planning the most appropriate and adaptive workflow for a particular Managed Document Review always assumes that events may develop during the project that will necessitate a change in the process. For example, court rulings or motion practice may narrow the scope of claims or limit the duty to provide certain types of documents.
Expert project managers conduct regular briefings with the reviewers to discover whether any noteworthy patterns or unexpected data have been identified. Reporting these developments to the client can stimulate an adjustment in search criteria or cause the workflow to redirect clusters or categories of documents to a reviewer with special expertise.
Flexibility and communication are the primary attributes of every well-executed Managed Document Review process. Establishing a customized workflow to effectively conduct an organization’s document review includes the flexibility to adapt when appropriate. Continual, active communication with both reviewers and client principals throughout the review process heightens the project manager’s awareness that an adjustment will improve efficiency or benefit the quality of the final document set.
Managed Document Review services should be tailored to the specific needs of the matter, with technologies and resources to achieve the best possible outcomes for your client. With over thirty years of experience and expertise, Hire Counsel has the solution you need.