Fortune 1000 Counsel Reveal Emerging E-discovery Playbook

New York, N.Y., April 8, 2014 — FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN), the global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance their enterprise value, today announced the results of its fifth annual study of corporate e-discovery trends. Conducted by its FTI Technology segment, the Advice from Counsel study highlights the strategies Fortune 1000 legal teams are implementing to operationalize e-discovery for greater efficiency, transparency and cost predictability. The report outlines many key components of an effective corporate e-discovery playbook, highlights areas of industry maturity and discusses additional findings from a panel of leading corporate e-discovery experts.

“Over the past five years, Advice from Counsel has grown into a community of leading e-discovery practitioners sharing best practices across a range of topics such as adoption of predictive coding and reuse of attorney work product on similar matters,” said Mike Kinnaman, Senior Managing Director in the FTI Technology segment at FTI Consulting and co-author of the Advice from Counsel study. “A clear corporate e-discovery playbook is emerging that incorporates people, process and technology to improve the complex and costly e-discovery process.”

Among this year’s Advice from Counsel study findings:

• Ninety percent of the participating organizations have dedicated internal resources for handling routine preservation through collection. Third parties are used to handle situations involving international data privacy laws, collection from mobile devices or social media data, and certain sensitive cases where it’s beneficial to have a third party collect the materials.
• Eighty-three percent of the participating organizations outsource review and production with 60 percent of all organizations outsourcing directly to a service provider, and 23 percent relying on their law firm to handle the decision.
• While more than 85 percent of organizations plan to use analytics and predictive coding technology, only 17 percent recommended that companies bring predictive coding in-house.

“The annual Advice from Counsel study has become a valuable tool for corporate legal teams to share perspectives on e-discovery best practices,” said Ari Kaplan, legal consultant and Principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors and co-author of the Advice from Counsel study. “We’re incredibly proud of how the Advice from Counsel community continues to grow and how they provide practical advice for peers on safely and cost-effectively managing e-discovery.”

The 2014 Advice from Counsel study can be downloaded here: The Emerging E-discovery Playbook.

About the Study
For the past five years, FTI Technology has partnered with Ari Kaplan Advisors to publish the annual Advice from Counsel study, a quantitative and qualitative view into e-discovery best practices for corporate counsel. The study is conducted by phone interviews with 30 in-house legal professionals with responsibilities that include e-discovery. All participants are from Fortune 1000 corporations, and interviews are conducted under the condition of anonymity.  

About Advice from Counsel
Through in-person events, virtual meetings, webcasts, surveys and reports, Advice from Counsel helps e-discovery leaders share ideas and advice with peers in an open and collaborative forum. Begun in 2008 as an annual survey and report on top e-discovery trends, Advice from Counsel has evolved into an interactive community of e-discovery professionals working to strengthen the people, process and technology at the core of e-discovery. For more on Advice from Counsel, as well as information on how to join, please visit www.ftitechnology.com.

About FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 4,200 employees located in 26 countries, FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management, strategic communications and restructuring. The Company generated $1.65 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2013. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.

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