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A Process Perspective on Litigation Support

(Ron Friedmann, June 2005)

The e-discovery explosion creates a risk that firms will lose sight of the larger litigation support picture. There may not be a single right way to "do lit supp" but firms should analyze their processes and strive to develop consistent guidelines.

The table below presents a framework for thinking about litigation support. Columns represent phases of a case and rows represent player roles, software involved, and issues to consider.

The text in each cell is merely suggestive. Each firm, indeed each case, may have different answers. Even the rows and columns can differ. The point though is twofold:

Make explicit and informed litigation support decisions.
Analyze processes at both a micro and macro level and strive to develop a consistent approach based on adherence to a set of guidelines that covers typical scenarios.

	Collect	Cull	Process	Review	Produce	Case Prep	Trial
Vendor Role	Primary	Primary	Primary	Limited, unless using hosted system	Print or format conversion	Typically limited role	Trial presentation; site support
Lit Supp Role	Input	Input to active involvement	Input to active involvement	Set up and tech support	Tech support	Tech support	Tech support
Legal Assistant Role	Supervise	Input to active involvement	Input to active involvement	Searches; substantive support; monitor review progress	Help select documents; assemble production sets; review, track	Prep for depos; support all lawyer work	Supervise vendors; coordinate all necessary tasks
Lawyer Role	Guide	Guide	Guide	Review strategy; doc-by-doc review	Review production sets	Drafting, depos, research, etc.	Hands-on

Software In Use	Outsource primarily; limited in-house	Outsource or advanced semantic tool	Outsource primarily; limited in-house	Concordance, Summation, Ringtail, etc. OR Hosted solution	Concordance, Summation, Ringtail, etc. OR Hosted solution	Lit supp system; CaseMap; databases; other (e.g., decision trees)	Trial presentation system (e.g., Sanction or Trial Director)

Issues to Consider	· Supervision · Forensic collections · Scope of custodians and data sets · Data types · Chain of custody	· Reduce volume prior to processing · Role of advanced search software	· Native format v. TIFF or PDF · Collecting and using meta-data	· Facilitating all-digital, on-screen review · Monitoring reviews · QC of lawyer work · Working with co-counsel	· Redactions · Tracking productions · Production formats, including numbering · Working with co-counsel	· Using database effectively to prep the case · Working with co-counsel	· Integrating doc database to trial support system

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