Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | T E C H S O L U T I O N S 31 Beyond a particular transaction, it's also important to understand if the provider offers ongoing expertise across legal and data that will ensure the desired outcome achieved. If your interview with a potential provider consists of you telling them what you want and them saying, "Sure, we can do that," take it as a warning sign. A competent provider will have an exhaustive list of questions: is the matter internal or external? What is the goal? What are the obligations or the strate? What must be proved or disproved? and How should I interact with the data? These and more company-specific questions are part of the first steps in creating a comprehensive workflow. In a thriving client/provider relationship, the questions are often as important as the answers. Another consideration is the service provider's understanding of different workflows and when to implement which ones. For example, the best workflow in a compliance context may create risk on an eDiscovery project, even if the same custodians and data are at issue. But that is only one dimension. Workflows don't age gracefully. Every time another regulation hits or more data appears, legal teams must pivot quickly to adapt. If you don't redesign workflows several times in a case, you're not reacting to the data – or the privacy issues hidden deep within the data that a litigator might not be thinking of on their way to production. Ask your service provider candidate how they plan to design and assist with this scenario. One of the key questions is whether they have an understanding of data and data analysis as well as the tools of eDiscovery, privacy and compliance that will allow them to build a workflow based on outcomes as well as protecting data. Data, Privacy and Compliance Understanding your organization's data, and how different in-house departments interact with it, is critical to a successful outcome. If your provider skips through this exercise, you should end the relationship immediately. There is no approach except a holistic one. First, one of the most pertinent issues with any matter is uncovering where data resides. Data never resides in nice clean boxes solely in the singular place where it ought to be. At Level 2 Legal, our experience tells us that when we think we have the final answer from a custodian, we are likely just beginning. For example, in a human resources dispute, there will be messages, emails, or financial details that have escaped through gaps no one knew existed. In a marketing dispute, we see litigators come across source code, social communications or client privilege information that was believed to be protected. If litigators are not figuring out ways of cutting across data silos, they are not doing their job. So, our approach is to ask, ask, and ask until we find the points of weakness. "If you don't redesign workflows several times in a case, you're not reacting to the data."

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