Technology, in the form of eDiscovery, is quickly cutting at the root of the inevitable delays and potential errors made during the discovery process during litigation, or in a forensic or competition matter by offering quick and intelligent turnaround solutions.
Clayton Thomopoulos, a director of Risk Advisory at Deloitte, says a sound hosting platform designed specifically for the litigation, investigation and competition markets will save time and money.
The collection of data from an individual (a custodian) that has a laptop or PC, as well as a portable device, could potentially amount to 15 gigabytes of data.
"Experience tells us that in some instances this could be almost 100,000 documents. For example, if there were five relevant custodians, we could be anticipating upwards of half a million documents. The ability to respond effectively entails having the capabilities to acquire data and information from multiple custodians within a short timeframe. Experienced professionals are a non-negotiable element of this entire process in order to ensure the requisite chain of custody,"
According to Waseema Harrison from Deloitte Risk Advisory, the benefits of using technology within eDiscovery engagements include processing speed capability, accuracy, data security, custom workflows and secure access to one database. Processing electronic data will capture the text so that the data is searchable and where the data is in its native format, the text capture is 100%.
During processing deduplication will also take place and it is expected that this could reduce the volume of reviewable data by up to 30%. Additionally the processing will capture all of the relevant metadata which is crucial for knowing your data and searching across fields. All processing data is then loaded to a hosted review platform whereby all the features and techniques of the solution materially aid review.
"The system is also flexible and scalable and reduces technology risk. Furthermore, users should be able to use the tool with just 30 minutes of training. Users achieve heightened quality assurance via instantaneous dashboards showing key metrics such as the volume of documents reviewed by person and the number of documents coded as 'Relevant'," she says.
Deloitte, which is one of the leaders among service providers in the eDiscovery industry, believes that responding to cross-border discovery and data security issues requires the right mix of technology, insight and experience.
"The idea is to be able to provide a single point of project management, which is an extremely powerful proposition," says Thomopoulos.
Dawn raids require rapid processing
An increase in 'dawn raids' by competition authorities, meanwhile, is increasing the need for a quick turnaround and the ability to get to the root of a problem quickly.
"eDiscovery can provide a solution where a manual review may not be ideal within limited timeframes. With eDiscovery, everything can processed through the system and accessed in a secure environment by multiple reviewers. It can accelerate inquiries, improve efficiencies and filter out what is extraneous," continues Thomopoulos.
Some companies have already started utilising eDiscovery solutions - particularly when there is a need to review documents within limited timeframes. "All the systems are place, but what is needed now is more of a mind-set shift to harness technology to improve the process, rather than simply falling back on archaic ways of doing things. Organisations, law firms and Government will soon realise the benefits and we are seeing more interest in this solution when there is the realisation that there are strict deadlines and no room for error," concludes Thomopoulos.
