When it comes to eDiscovery software, it must be user-friendly, as this can increase your team’s productivity and reduce the risk of errors in review, redaction, or production.

To ensure that you select the best eDiscovery solution for your team, you should look for a platform with an intuitive design and a clean layout. Additionally, you should seek transparent pricing, avoiding confusing charts hiding add-on fees.

Legal teams are often seeking speed, scalability, and cost savings. By choosing the right eDiscovery partner, you can simplify and streamline the discovery process, making it more consistent.

Remember, the eDiscovery software you choose plays a critical role in your team’s discovery process. Therefore, it is essential to be highly selective when choosing the best solution for your needs.

Technology

The technology used by an eDiscovery company must be easy to use and accessible for the legal team. It should be simple and require extensive training. In addition to the user experience, the software should be designed to reduce document review costs through automation and defensible techniques.

Legal teams generate massive amounts of data from multiple sources in various formats and devices. This creates a challenge for finding and reviewing this data. Defensible information governance practices reduce the volume of data delivered for review and can help organizations find what they need when needed.

Look for an eDiscovery vendor that offers technology that helps attorneys identify and locate relevant documents during the review process. This can help reduce repeat reviews, a significant driver of eDiscovery costs. A good eDiscovery tool should also provide tools to help attorneys and paralegals prioritize and focus their reviews on documents more likely to be relevant to the case at hand. Automated searches and predictive coding can accomplish this to identify documents likely to be responsive to the lawsuit.

Experience

The eDiscovery process is one of the most critical phases in litigation, and working with a company with deep experience with this process is essential. Whether you are a large law firm dealing with multi-terabyte matters regularly or a solo practitioner who deals with eDiscovery once in a blue moon, working with an experienced partner will ensure your matter is completed promptly and within budget.

In addition to ensuring that your work is completed by court requirements and rules, working with an experienced eDiscovery partner will also help you avoid costly mistakes. These mistakes could include missing valuable evidence, breaking the discovery timeline, or, even worse, risking sanctions from the court.

Moreover, working with an experienced eDiscovery service provider can help you get the most out of your software investments. Many vendors offer training and 24/7 support to help you with any issues that may arise during a project. Look for these features in your eDiscovery software, as they will save you time and money.

Security

A significant concern of legal teams is data security for eDiscovery. Network hacks and other cyber threats that shouldn’t be coming are more common, and it is essential to take these concerns thoughtfully when choosing an eDiscovery company. The company you select should demonstrate its commitment to security by providing proof of adequate measures. This can include a security policy, third-party audits, and certifications.

The company should also be able to protect sensitive information in transit and at rest by using encryption. This should be done at the software and hardware levels to ensure the information is not compromised. It is also a good idea to ask the company about their policies on privileged information and how they handle it in the event of an incident.

Another factor to consider when selecting an eDiscovery company is its ability to process foreign language content. This is especially important if you work with clients from international locations or deal with complex matters that cross borders. 

Pricing

When evaluating eDiscovery software and service providers, it is critical to understand pricing policies. This will help you avoid hidden costs and ensure your project stays within budget.

For example, many vendors have a la carte pricing models where fees vary depending on the type of service required (e.g., culling, processing, review, coding). These models are challenging to right-size and can quickly run over your budget.

Another hidden cost is hosting and licensing. In addition to the actual hosting cost, you need to consider security and data storage. Also, if your solution is cloud-based, you must account for energy, server/hardware, and software licenses. You should also find out how many eDiscovery services the provider offers and how much it will cost to add them to your scope. In addition, you need to know if the eDiscovery software can be integrated into your existing workflows and systems. A complete integration may require significant effort and additional project fees if not. In many cases, these fees will outweigh the initial software costs. Ideally, you want a simple, straightforward, and predictable billing model.