To uncover opportunities to improve discovery efficiency and lower costs, many Epiq clients have had their Discovery programmes assessed through the Discovery Health Check, a deep dive assessment performed by seasoned Discovery experts. Epiq’s Discovery Health Check provides a detailed report that identifies gaps and risks, along with short-, mid-, and long-term programme recommendations. 

Discovery Health Checks are performed across various sized corporations spanning multiple industries, and there are several common pain points that we have found:

• Budget challenges: Legal departments are experiencing an increase in the volume of legal work, however, nearly two-thirds of legal departments report that total department budgets are either flat or decreasing .  (2023 Legal Department Operations Index, Thomson Reuters Institute)  For several of these groups, lawyer headcount is unchanged, and the increase in work places greater strain on in-house teams. Legal departments need to operate as efficiently as possible amidst tighter budgets and controlling external spend remains the top “high priority” item.
• Over-reliance on outside counsel for discovery related tasks:  During the health check process, an assessment of the relationships between the client, their outside counsel, and third-party eDiscovery service providers is performed. One of the items analysed is the work allocation between the three parties to ensure that tasks are right sized and being completed by the appropriate resources.  Corporate clients often rely on outside counsel to complete work that can also be performed by an eDiscovery service provider. By shifting these tasks to eDiscovery service providers, it allows outside counsel time to focus on strategy and the merits of the case while reducing cost.
• Over-retention of data: The identification and preservation of potentially relevant data to a lawsuit or investigation can be tricky.  Factors, such as employee attrition, shifts in organisational structure, and lack of centralised documentation can complicate the identification of potentially relevant information. Out of an abundance of caution, there is a tendency to over preserve data. Also, with the lack of data governance and hygiene, unnecessarily duplicative data is maintained and collected, leading to unnecessary and avoidable costs.
• Siloed processes: There are several internal groups that are involved in the discovery process, such as the legal department, IT, information governance, HR, and records management.  To have a successful discovery programme, it is essential that these groups frequently collaborate and have transparent communication with a clear understanding of each groups’ roles and responsibilities in the discovery process.  Though these groups are working together to complete the discovery process, they frequently work in silos.  Because of this, processes are not as efficient, communication is not streamlined, and there is a higher likelihood of gaps in workflows and handoffs.
• Not leveraging all available technology features: Several corporate clients invest in legal hold, data collection, discovery, and eBilling related technology; however not all are using these tools to their fullest capabilities. For example, manual work being performed can be alleviated by better integrating technology or taking advantage of automation. Organisations should seek to ensure that the technology they use for various purposes is as integrated as possible. Several organisations are focused on adopting AI and expanding their use of automation, with the goals of driving their legal departments to improve efficiency and lower spend.

The Discovery Health Check helps corporations address these pain points. A deep dive into current day-to-day processes, resource allocation, and technology are used to ensure that all available resources are being optimised. The agnostic health check review and recommendations detail small effort “quick wins” as well as long-term transformational initiatives that help alleviate common issues, maximise resource use, and drive efficiencies, ultimately reducing costs.

Yuka Ito-Currin has over fifteen years of experience in the eDiscovery and litigation support industry.  As a Strategic Client Engagement Director, Yuka provides strategic consulting to Epiq’s corporate clients, guiding their legal departments through in-depth assessments of their Discovery processes and procedures and helping them build out their Discovery Centers of Excellence.