Digital White Papers

NEGOTIATING A SUCCESSFUL E-DISCOVERY CONTRACT your due diligence. Attend service provider presentations, research pricing, check references, schedule onsite visits and interview contacts to gain a deeper understanding of the potential project relationship. In turn, you'll be able to further develop terms of the e-discovery contract. provider's performance, such as their commitment to service and quality. Eric Lieber recommends a 360-degree review of potential service providers, checking not only the references they provide, but also references from other trusted e-discovery professionals who have worked with the service provider. •INTERVIEW SERVICE PROVIDER TEAM MEMBERS: Review resumes and conduct face-to-face interviews with potential service provider team members to help evaluate the personnel's ability to complete the job required. •ONSITE VISITS: If possible, visit a service provider onsite to get a real-time view into their company. Many things can be evaluated, including a confirmation of security practices, an understanding of the company and an understanding of how work is organized. Other intangibles may be observed as well, like the company's work ethic and culture, which can be an indicator of service quality. decisions are based on one factor, but more often there are many factors that need to be considered. When this is the case, a more analytical approach is helpful. Julie Richer's company has used a list of important factors or a rate card scored based on the importance of information gathered in phases one and two. Based on the final tally of the scores, a top service provider typically becomes clear. Eric Lieber believes providing a list of service •SERVICE PROVIDER PRESENTATIONS: Service provider presentations can give insight into different companies' offerings. Creating a detailed agenda to focus presentations not only helps guide conversations, but also helps memorialize project requirements, workflow documentation and the service provider's commitments to service and current software functionality. This information is helpful later when writing a contract. •PRICING: Obtain comparative pricing from multiple service providers. They may have different pricing models, so conversations that ensure pricing is understood and compared accurately are an essential part of phase two. Understanding the different pricing options is important for making an apples-to-apples comparison and achieving pricing that is a winwin for your firm and the service provider. •REFERENCES: References provide insight into less tangible measurements of a service •MAKE A DECISION: There are many approaches to reducing the short list to one. Sometimes

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