Fortune 1000 E-discovery Managers Offer 13 Cost-Saving Tips for In-House Legal Departments

New York, N.Y., Nov. 18, 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 mid-year study of corporate e-discovery trends. Conducted by its FTI Technology segment, this mid-year installment of Advice from Counsel features insights from 25 experienced e-discovery managers in the Fortune 1000, and highlights their advice on how counsel can make e-discovery more efficient and cost-effective in today’s climate. The report outlines 13 specific cost-saving tips from these e-discovery managers across the collection, processing, early case assessment, review and production phases of e-discovery, including how to use analytics to find important case data to drive the e-discovery process rather than waiting until the review process completes to understand the most important case information.  

“For six years, the Advice from Counsel studies have provided a critical resource for corporations seeking to exchange best practices and improve their e-discovery program,” said Mike Kinnaman, Senior Managing Director in the Technology segment at FTI Consulting and co-author of the Advice from Counsel study. “The most recent Advice from Counsel study underscores the increasingly important role analytics will play in e-discovery’s future.” 

Across every phase of e-discovery, the results indicate a paradigm shift is underway due to an increased use of analytics. Key findings from the latest Advice from Counsel study support this conclusion and include:

About half of the respondents (48 percent) process data in-house, while the other half outsource processing or rely on a hybrid of in-house and outsourced services. The number one tip for reducing processing costs is to use analytics to reduce the data set before processing.

• The top complaints about the early case assessment (“ECA”) phase is that often matters are so large and fast-moving that teams do not have time to conduct ECA and the software may not scale to handle the dataset.
• Sixty-eight percent of corporations outsource legal review, 28 percent rely on a hybrid of in-house and outsourced services and four percent conduct review completely in-house. The top recommendation for reducing legal review costs is to use analytics and predictive coding so that attorneys review a small subset of the data. 

“The respondents for this study provided some of the most direct and practical insight we’ve had to date for Advice from Counsel,” said Ari Kaplan, legal consultant and Principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors and co-author of the Advice from Counsel study. “All of the advice was focused on proactive steps and improvements that could be reasonably implemented in any corporate legal department to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. We’re looking forward to the next round of studies that may indicate how some of these insights are beginning to take shape in practice.”

Download 13 Ways Your E-Discovery Manager Thinks You Can Save Money. The Advice from Counsel study from earlier in 2014 can be downloaded here: The Emerging E-Discovery Playbook.

About the Study
For the past six 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 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.