Canadian Lawyer InHouse

how to handle files changing over time. "There's no doubt there's no longer the loyalty to a particular firm when it comes to major litigation and I think a lot of it is individual and personality driven," says Sullivan. "I am known as an aggressive litigator; if you want to fight I will fight it in an aggressive style. I know some in-house counsel welcome that style and others don't. You just have to say [what] my view is to be upfront and in-house need to know and understand your strategy and be on board." Like many law firm litigators these days, Sullivan says he finds it helpful to talk to the client about its own internal resources especially around the issue of document management. "Document management is the nightmare of modern litigation," he says. "Someone told me the other day that e-mail stands for evidence mail. That sums it up perfectly." Lonsdale agrees. "There's no question that in litigation document production is a huge driver of cost. I would say we have been very focused on that and we're more disciplined about it now. Obviously we have to produce relevant documents in the litigation but you have to be careful and smarter in how you go about doing that and it has a huge impact on cost," she says. Blakes has worked closely with its inhouse clients around document control as the companies often have their own document system. "Some of the most sophisticated clients we work with have developed their own document litigation management systems, which is incredibly helpful for us as counsel. It's also very cost effective for the client," he says. John Landry, a partner with Davis LLP in Vancouver who handles complex commercial litigation and arbitration matters, says the document management issue is a tough one to explain to clients. "It's really hard to tell a client it's going to cost $100,000 to do document management but it saves an incredible amount of time, effort, and energy once it's in the system. This is an area people are struggling mightily with right now. The in-house WE CAN HANDLE ANY PITCH. counsel often look at you like a deer in the headlights especially if you have a wide definition of relevancy," he says. Over the years, there has been a growing creativity both within the in-house counsel and litigation bars as to how to deal with these kinds of issues on big cases, says Sullivan. "I think as counsel it's incumbent upon us to search out the actual resources available to in-house from clients and then it becomes a decision based on the client: 'Do you want to use your own resources or talk about thirdparty providers?'" There's also the option of settling rather than going to court. Some companies are doing the cost-benefit analysis that insurance companies have done for some time. Formalized litigation management has been in place at insurance companies for many years. Eric Sigurdson, general attorney, TD Insurance, who manages the property and casualty division, recently co-chaired a panel for in-house counsel at Stikeman Elliott LLP on the issue of managing complex litigation better. The audi- LITIGATIONBOUTIQUE.COM WOODS LLP LITIGATION . ARBITRATION . CLASS ACTION 2000 McGILL COLLEGE AVE. SUITE 1700 MONTREAL, QUEBEC H3A 3H3 T. 514-982-4545 Untitled-5 1 24 • ju n e 2013 INHOUSE 13-04-24 2:24 PM

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