Project Scope & Case Management

Our consultants will work with counsel and practice support departments to create a straightforward and objective plan to manage all case information. Understanding the collected material, whether electronically stored or in paper format, is the first step in creating an effective plan.

Predicting the potential amount of information will immediately narrow down your options for a review platform. Understanding how much of that information will originate as paper or electronic, and in what format (hard drive images, network shares, etc), is essential in creating a timeline to get information into a reviewable format. To eliminate irrelevant case material upfront, many filtering methods can be applied. Identifying and targeting potentially responsive locations, custodian sources, date ranges, and file types can quickly remove a large set of material so that your review team isn’t unnecessarily wasting valuable time. No longer are you limited to simple keyword searching. Advancements in the field of data analytics and search technology have paved the way for many new features and functionalities that could play key roles in targeting specific information—whether electronically stored or paper. Just as the volume of information varies by case, so does the complexity. Specialized or legacy file formats might need extra attention to be handled properly, and foreign languages, namely pictorial, will require full Unicode support for proper review. To make things even more complex, information does not always exist in the form of a file. Re-creating an environment, such as a concurrent versions system (CVS), or extracting information from electronic devices such as a PDA or Blackberry, can produce a lot of information that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Once data scope and complexity have been addressed, an appropriate review methodology can be finalized. A document format and database platform is generally chosen that suits all included parties, dependent on prior experience and potential data size. Each of the available tools has its own strengths and weaknesses, but none is the right fit for every case. If several geographically disparate parties are involved, an online hosted review tool might be appropriate, otherwise a locally maintained database with limited remote access could suffice.

Size:

• How much data
• Source of data
• Filtering methods
• Search technology

Complexity:

• Specialized file types
• Nature of data source

Requirements:

• Number of reviewers
• Number of reviewing locations