Canadian Lawyer

A benefit of using a hosted platform is that clients can also participate in the document review. The combination of a document review platform that is hosted and third-party document reviewers can turn even the smallest litigation firm into — at least for a time — a larger firm. For those looking, I have written in previous columns about how to select a vendor and a review tool, and how to work with external document reviewers. Of course the problem of pricing e-discovery services still exists, regardless of whether e-discovery is being consumed by large firms or small firms. That pricing, and how to navigate e-discovery costs, is the topic of my next column. Dera J. Nevin is the senior director, litigation support, and e-discovery counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP. A practising lawyer, she also oversees the firm's e-discovery operations and can be reached at dnevin@mccarthy.ca. VIEW 2013 Brought to you by Canada's leading CLOs explore their challenges for the year ahead Read it in print or online at www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse Live on January 28th INHOUSE vol.7 • issue 5 • 10.12 INHOUSEing Bring e-discovery vol.7 • issue 4 • 08.12 AT THE INTERSECTION OF LAW & BUSINESS TION OF LAW AT THE INTERSEC & BUSINESS From left: Brian Hilbers, Av Maharaj, Nathalie Clark, Mark Adams, n, Veta T. Richardso Megan Evans inside: 12tips >> >> THE EVOLU RELATIONSHIP EXTERNAL IHouse_View.indd 1 C L INHOUSE/AC SEVENTH ANNUAEL ROUNDTABLE GENERAL COUNS P.18 >> MANAGING SE >> SK IN-HOU RI CASHIN CASHING IN ING NG ON REIT FEVER R IT LAW DEPARTMENT PARTMENT How large corporate depa depar legal departments are co taking control of the litigation discovery liti process. CANADIAN LAWYER INHOUSE AT THE INTERSECTION OF LAW & BUSINESS EEMENT # 40766500 00 for in-house counsel MIND THE RE GAP DISCLOSU RTMENT LAW DEPA NT: MANAGEME OF THE TION ENT # 40766500 ENT # 40766500 lawyers have more options for discovery work than ever before. Finally, there is greater capability within the technology to permit more sophisticated searching of electronic records. Thus, the manpower required in previous years may no longer be necessary. A much smaller team of lawyers can perform much more sophisticated searching using modern e-discovery tools. This reduces the need for extensive document-by-document manual review, which was a defining characteristic of e-discovery projects in previous years. The third development is the enormous growth of the e-discovery services marketplace within the past five years. During that time, there has been consolidation of e-discovery players. There are now significant, high-quality national and international players in this space, offering a range of products and services. In particular, U.S.-based vendors are entering the Canadian marketplace, either directly or through partnerships with Canadian firms. Increasingly, e-discovery services are becoming available outside major urban centres. However, with the rise of web-hosted services, location of services is becoming less relevant. E-discovery services' offerings are increasingly sophisticated. Providers have invested significant money and time to develop their capabilities. Frequently, it just makes sense, from a practical and economic perspective, to partner with a provider. An e-discovery project manager can supplement your resources, adding bench strength and expertise to your team. This kind of resource can be engaged on a project basis, permitting smaller teams to supplement their ranks. Of particular significance to lawyers who practise alone, in smaller firm arrangements, or outside urban areas is the rise of document review services. Such services may permit sole practitioners or lawyers in small firms to temporarily supplement their personnel power by using lawyers specializing in document review and production to assist them. The clients of large firms can achieve wage arbitrage; smaller firms can staff up quickly without incurring capital costs. www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m Jan uary 12-11-30 9:38 2 0 1 3 19 AM

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