Canadian Lawyer

September 2011

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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BY DERA J. NEVIN TECH SUPPORT How to choose an e-discovery tool and e-discovery vendor There is nothing more frustrating than sitting at a computer waiting for the system to recover from a crash, or waiting for a page to load because the system is unstable. A platform can have hundreds of features, but if it takes two minutes to load a page none of that functionality matters. Most people assume a platform will "just work" but that does not always happen. Ask what affects the review tool's stability. Also make sure the tool is secure and will not permit documents to be altered or downloaded from the tool. Also ask: • Does the tool maintain native file data to meet the case team's needs. E-discovery tools have one or both E of two features: first, they sort through data to find specific documents relevant to a legal request. Second, they offer a platform in which those electronic documents can be reviewed. The features and functionality of tools can be quite different, so it is important to understand what those feature sets are, and do your homework about the representations made about their functionality. "Linear" tools permit document review one document at a time. In recent years, more sophisticated tools have -discovery expertise rests on two major skills: choosing the right e-discovery tools and using them appropriately within the emerged with features called "analytics" that isolate groups of documents for review from within a larger set. "Concept clustering" automatically groups together conceptually relevant documents, helping lawyers build clusters of related documents for review from select words and phrases. Concept search engines have other features that allow lawyers to do exemplar searches at the point of review (i.e., a process similar to asking the computer to "find me all other documents like this one.") These "analytic" technologies help case teams perform review on a broader, often faster, scale. Every review platform promises a basket of functionality, such as speed and scalability, flexibility, strong security, and stability. Of all of those, I think stability and security are the two most important. 16 SEPTEMBER 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com formats? Converting documents to a different format, such as tiff or pdf, before they are reviewed adds expense, usually five to 20 cents per page, and sometimes more. Since a collection may include many irrelevant documents, the expense of file- format conversion can be considerable, as well as unnecessary. Converting documents may also complicate life for review attorneys. It is usually better to keep documents in their native format until after they have been reviewed and to convert documents that will be produced. • Does the tool allow for easy coding or annotation of documents? Often, most of the documents in a collection will be irrelevant or redundant. The people reviewing the documents need an easy way to classify them. Make sure the annotation system permits people to be accurate and fast. Too many clicks or keystrokes can slow down review and increase the rate of error. • Does the tool maintain an appropriate chain of evidence? A chain of evidence refers to being able to prove that the documents are unchanged from their time

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