New industry research unveils insights into corporate counsel e-discovery practices, concerns and trends

5.14.08 by vendor

Ari Kaplan Advisors, LLC, in conjunction with underwriter Fios Inc., today released the results of in-depth research conducted with professionals from corporate legal departments at Fortune 500 corporations. Kaplan contacted 117 corporations and held 30- to 60-minute interviews with 28 individuals in the financial, healthcare, pharmaceutical, insurance, technology and discrete manufacturing industries. Of the professionals interviewed, 26 were associate general counsel and senior counsel that have direct responsibility for e-discovery supervision and management.

“Over the past two years, there has been a dramatic transformation in the complexity and management of e-discovery related to litigation and government investigations inside the corporation,” said Ari Kaplan, principal researcher and owner of Ari Kaplan Advisors. “This research is unique in that it provided a platform for the participants to share their views and concerns around e-discovery practices, as well as real insights into what’s working and what is yet to come. As the underwriter, Fios enabled us to go deep and provide a view into the legal community that you traditionally don’t get from statistical surveys. I was pleasantly surprised and excited by the results.”

Some of the high-level findings from the research unveiled the following:

• 39% of respondents indicated that their general counsel has little to no involvement in the management of e-discovery
  
  
• Legal cost drivers are fairly evenly divided between patent/IP (28.6%), products liability/class action (25%) and regulatory investigation/compliance (28.6%) matters
  
  
• 89% of respondents work in legal departments that have an e-discovery response team in place
  
  
• 61% of companies have completed a litigation readiness assessment, most with the assistance of an outside source
  
  
• A majority of respondents (61%) did not feel that their organizations were particularly impacted by the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (ranking the impact at 5 (out of 10) or below)
  
  
• The relationship between legal and IT is improving dramatically. 79% of the respondents reported working “very close” with IT, and 61% noted that legal is “often” consulted when IT adopts new technology
  
  
• 75% of respondents ranked their organizations at a 7 or higher (out of 10) in terms of how well their legal holds are enforced, documented, re-issued and monitored
  
  
• 43% of the respondents admitted that they did not know how much the company is spending in its entirety on e-discovery
  
  
• 46% of the respondents do not have a long-term agreement in place with a preferred e-discovery services provider
  
  
• Only 14% of the respondents engage national e-discovery counsel. The others use outside counsel for each specific case

Kaplan noted that most respondents believe that their corporations will find efficiencies to control ballooning costs associated with e-discovery. It is the technique for achieving those efficiencies that differs. “The level at which companies are investing in technology, working with national e-discovery counsel and selecting preferred vendors to aid in the process varies widely,” said Kaplan. On an interesting note, Kaplan did uncover that when selecting a preferred vendor, almost all said cost was the first but not critical selection criteria. “When it came down to it, honesty, integrity, knowledge and trust all ranked higher on the priority scale,” he said.

“We were extremely pleased to be working with Ari Kaplan on this very important research,” said Jeanette Slepian, vice president of marketing at Fios, Inc. “The foundation of Fios’ success lies in our ability to understand the market, provide education and insights around a very complex and changing business process and apply this knowledge when serving our clients. The insights revealed in this study are invaluable to the industry and are in complete alignment with the technology infrastructure, data management and consulting services Fios has built to meet the needs of our major corporate and law firm clients.”

To download the full results of Ari Kaplan’s research, entitled “A Conversation with Corporate Counsel: e-Discovery Trends and Perspectives,” visit Fios’ website at www.fiosinc.com/trends.

About Ari Kaplan & Ari Kaplan Advisors LLC

Ari Kaplan is a lawyer and a writer based in New York. He has been focusing on legal technology, including compliance, foreign language e-discovery, extranets, digital redaction, enterprise search and contact management, among other topics, for many years. As the principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors, Kaplan counsels professionals internationally on the art of getting published and dynamic networking. He has published over 150 articles, served as a legal commentator for CNET Radio, hosted a public access cable television show in Manhattan, taught Internet law at Baruch College, and founded the Ari Kaplan Advisors charitable book collection through the Intergenerational Literacy Project in Chelsea, Mass. He is a member of the Board of Editors for ALM Media's Marketing the Law Firm and Legal Tech and is also the recipient of a 2007 Apex Award. Kaplan practiced law in New York City for nearly nine years and is admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. He earned his J.D. from George Washington University Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston University. Thomson-West will be releasing his new book, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development, in June 2008. For more information about Ari Kaplan Advisors and its services, visit http://www.AriKaplanAdvisors.com.

[ Browse news by category ]  [ Read all vendor news ]

Recommend this article...

Comment

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.