Digital White Papers

ILTA WHITE PAPER: JUNE 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 17 WHAT IS "MANAGED SERVICES"? The "Sedona Glossary for E-Discovery and Digital Information Management" from 2010 has no definition for the term "managed services." That's because this services delivery method has been developed only in the past couple of years. The term refers to an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) e-discovery solution in which a service provider owns, maintains and hosts the hardware for the client, while the client owns and runs the software. The IaaS delivery method eliminates a firm's capital expenditures and related IT personnel expansion and allows for quick scalability as case data volumes expand. Managed services providers also supplement personnel requirements with experienced project managers and technologists as needed. JONES WALKER'S E-DISCOVERY SERVICES Founded in 1937 in New Orleans, Jones Walker now has 390 attorneys in 19 offices across 10 states and the District of Columbia. The practice support team supports all practice groups but focuses more on litigation due to the nature of e-discovery. Historically, the practice support department performed most data processing activities in-house and hosted the document reviews using one of the traditionally accepted desktop review software tools. As review data sets grew, more of the work was sent out to e-discovery service providers, because neither the firm's infrastructure nor its software solutions were designed to handle these high volumes of electronically stored information (ESI). In addition, the practice support department had seen a significant increase in the requests for Web-accessible databases for remote access and collaboration with clients and co-counsel. In 2012, given a 300 percent annual price increase for one of their main software tools, Jones Walker decided it was time to re-evaluate the practice support services delivery model. The firm continued processing data in-house to maintain control and uniformity across their case loads but selected a replacement in-house discovery review platform to better support the needs of the business. The firm's ultimate goal was to find a cost-effective solution that would deliver the high levels of service the firm had grown accustomed to receiving. When the time came to begin the evaluation, R.P. Smith led the efforts. He wanted input from as many customers as possible, so he invited anyone in the firm who had experience with document reviews to join the review committee. While many personnel provided input, the review committee eventually comprised 17 members, including attorneys, paralegals and practice support. About the Author R.P. Smith is the Manager of Practice Support at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, LA. With over 10 years of experience in the legal industry, he successfully manages a team responsible for the development and implementation of cost-effective technology solutions for practice groups across 19 offices nationwide. R.P. is a Certified eDiscovery Specialist and serves as the ILTA Regional Member Liaison for New Orleans and as a member of ILTA's Litigation and Practice Support Peer Group Steering Committee. Contact him at rpsmith@joneswalker.com. About the Author Scott Berger serves as the Director of Discovery Management at Iris Data Services. He has been in the e-discovery technology and litigation support industry since 2001, starting with a litigation law firm and moving into roles that included account management, oversight of operations and sales, and director of e-discovery sales and service. Scott has introduced many new technologies and services to sales forces and clients, so he works closely with the Managed Services implementation team at Iris. Contact him at sberger@irisds.com. The firm's ultimate goal was to find a cost-effective solution that would deliver the high levels of service the firm had grown accustomed to receiving.

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