Is an Integrated e-Discovery Solution the Best Approach?

With law firms increasingly feeling pressure to adapt to client demands to reduce bills and expenses, an integrated e-discovery solution may seem like a wise investment. Having fewer vendors providing necessary services is always beneficial. It means less administrative overhead, less potential for miscommunication, and less time spent training staff on new software. However, when it comes to e-discovery, an integrated solution may not always provide a law firm with exactly what it needs. An integrated e-discovery platform must provide the firm with the ability to process, review, analyze and then produce electronically stored information (“ESI”) in a consistent, defensible and economically sensible manner. This is of paramount importance. Without understanding the many nuances involved in each of these phases, a law firm may quickly find out that it has purchased an integrated solution that fails to perform an essential task. At that point, the firm is faced with outsourcing this essential task or purchasing standalone software, defeating the purpose of investing in an integrated solution. In light of this, firms should carefully consider the essential software components for each phase of the e-discovery life cycle before investing in an integrated solution.