Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/43390
LEVERAGING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR MORE EFFICIENT RECORDS MANAGEMENT BENEFITS OF A PARTNER APPROACH TO FULL DISCOVERY REVIEW If the evidence supports continuing with full discovery review, once again, an integrated service provider can assist in tackling that review and production cost-effectively. They can help you decide who the best review audience for a particular data set will be. By managing not only legal professionals but appropriate business specialties, a professional services firm can manage disparate specialties under one managed workflow for consistent discovery outcomes. For example, staffing a team of mortgage professionals to review mortgage files in a mortgage securities case, which are almost by definition not privileged, and partnering them with legal professionals to make the legal issue and privilege determinations, the company can reap the benefits of knowledge transfer from the review team to the legal team. This allows retained counsel to regularly advise the general counsel's office of the efficacy of the planned case strategy. This partnered review approach, a process by which the professional services firm — working at the direction of retained counsel and the company — staffs, trains and manages the entire review process at secure, quality-controlled facilities, results not only in cost savings, but follows the critical reasonable and defensible processes approach that the courts require. It provides the best of both worlds for the law department or firm that does not have the resources available for conducting large-scale review projects, and the company that cannot administratively manage or maintain an in-house review staff. The process can conclude with that integrated team maintaining a repository of production information across matters. The ability to know what the company produced, for whom and when, can allow for regular reuse of production data, thereby reducing follow-on discovery costs each time that information can be reused. The repository is then accessible by RIM staff behind the firewall to update and apply RIM policies and procedures. This decreases the likelihood that a costly legacy data remediation project will be necessary. GAINING AN EDGE Utilizing the expertise and resources of professional services firms can drastically reduce the amount of time and money it takes to accomplish the same tasks in-house and can provide retained counsel with a defensible process approach to end-to-end discovery tasks. This gives the company an edge in responding to information requests — whether they're regulatory, judicial or business-related. Knowing exactly what to look for, where to find it, and whether or not it's legally required can prevent accidental or harmful disclosures as well as save precious time and resources during discovery. By leveraging managed service personnel to create a truly integrated team, both behind and outside the firewall, strategic RIM and discovery decisions can be made, yielding successful discovery outcomes for all. ILTA www.iltanet.org Corporate Law Departments 27