Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/25416
Michelle (Australia): The earliest litigation support in Australia started from within IT departments. However, some firms started to utilize qualified non-IT people such as ex-lawyers and paralegals in the late ‘80s. The role of a paralegal remains primarily focused on supporting lawyers and undertaking junior lawyer work. Sometimes paralegal work does veer into technical or traditional litigation support and some professionals have paralegal backgrounds. HOW DID THIS INDUSTRY DEVELOP INTO WHAT IT IS TODAY? Jonathan (U.K.): It didn’t develop; it evolved. Nearly every lawyer was in serious denial of e-disclosure, even after IT became a fundamental part of business. 1994 to ‘95 saw the start of local area networks (LANs) in London law firms, the replacement of Wang and golf ball typewriters, and Microsoft Word in place of WordPerfect. Almost by silent agreement, lawyers refused to countenance electronic evidence in discovery, as it was still called. They have largely been reluctant proponents of e-disclosure ever since. The industry kind of happened when no one was looking! The best of the best are those who have been around for ages. Kelly (Canada): The litigation support industry started small in Canada with a focus on scanning and coding of paper documents. Database applications such as FileMaker and Summation started to surface in law firms in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Litigation law clerks were the early adopters and advocates of the technology and, at first, the tools were used as glorified word processors for listing requirements or to manage transcripts — imaging was often an afterthought. 14 Litigation and Practice Support ILTA White Paper I believe the imaging trend started as a means to manage large document-intensive matters. The main factors that have driven the e-discovery movement are the use of e-mail, how our clients communicate and create evidence, and the volume of information generated. This has forced lawyers to pay more attention to how they gather evidence during the discovery phase of a litigation matter. The e-discovery industry started with software and roles within firms and corporate legal departments grew out of the implementation of Summation. Even today, job postings for litigation law clerks are often entitled “Summation Clerk.” It’s only been in the last five to 10 years that vendors have come to understand and support products like Concordance and Ringtail, but “Summation Certified” is still the standard for litigation support education in Canada. Practice support has not caught on in Canada; litigation support is the norm. Scott (U.S.): Our rules of procedure place a strong emphasis on disclosure, and that has been the driving force behind the development of the litigation support industry. Even before the advent of electronic discovery, it was clear that we needed something to manage the dramatic paradigm shift from a paper-focused litigation process to an electronic one. The ability to digitize paper changed the way discovery was conducted and no practitioner wanted to risk being at a disadvantage by not leveraging such capabilities. When it became evident that litigation support services were so lucrative, innovation and entrepreneurialism kicked in and relentlessly drove the industry. It reached critical mass with each development. Old problems were solved and new ones recognized (or created), leading to even more developments.