Reducing the Cost of Discovery

General counsel face intense, unprecedented pressure to cut costs. At the same time, the sheer quantity of data being created in a corporate environment has resulted in spiraling discovery costs. In facing what seems a losing battle, general counsel need to grow the tools available in their arsenal when approaching discovery. An important skill is use of technology as a way to reduce the costs associated with document collection and legal review. However, the best technology will never overcome the pitfalls associated with recurring problems such as the over-collection of documents or the identification of a new issue deep into a large document review. Analysis of how you are handling and responding to discovery requests will eliminate errors and reduce costs. This article provides a case study of one legal department's use of Lean Six Sigma in identifying avoidable problems that occur again and again across a variety of cases. The result? Tens of thousands of fewer unnecessary documents collected in shorter time frames, and significant cost-savings.