New Leadership for a new 'pedal to the metal' world
Business leaders faced an all-time-high rate of change in 2023, spurred by rapid advancements in generative AI according to Accenture’s new Pulse ...
Connecting...
The next era of eDiscovery is already here
Our thoughts on...
I just caught up with this excellent post, https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-next-era-of-e-discovery-is-already-49185/ “The Next Era of E-Discovery is Already Here,” by Mr Daniel Gold, https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielegold/ and have some observations on how we are seeing this new era shape the consulting side of the eDiscovery market. For over 10 years, Carlyle Kingswood Global has networked with and hired Big 4 eDiscovery partners and specialists into consulting and Big 4 firms, law firms and corporates, across EMEA, APAC and Australia, so this is a “Rest of the World” view but I think one which might also be familiar to US practitioners.
As Daniel explains, this next era of eDiscovery is characterised by corporate organisations integrating discovery technology on an enterprise-wide scale, and law firms transforming and integrating technology into their workflows and processes.
As a consequence, eDiscovery vendors and LPO businesses continue to develop and upscale their competitively priced SAAS offerings. Corporate organisations and law firms continue to bring more eDiscovery operations in-house and themselves are looking at offering eDiscovery consulting services. This in turn changes the type and frequency of external consulting support required from the large consulting firms.
Typically the specialist boutique and Big 4 eDiscovery advisors have been called in to solve the bigger or more critical problems because only they had the resources, and combination of ‘hands-on’ multi-jurisdictional and technical experience to rapidly assist in such matters. However, such projects are becoming smaller and less frequent.
Responding to this new era, the best eDiscovery partners in the boutiques and Big 4 firms will expand their own specialist technology and information governance expertise into broader client solutions across their firms’ other sectors and practices such as audit, financial crime, M&A and insurance. In return, their firms will understand and support them, will accommodate their plans and strategies, and will recognise and reward them for the resultant fee income.
However, from the boutique consulting and Big 4 firms who do not do this, their eDiscovery partners and specialists will leave to discover warm welcomes from other corporate, legal and consulting organisations who do – and in their absence, their eDiscovery practices, which in the past 10 years have contributed significant and consistent income streams, will shrink back to their origins as partnerless forensic data collection units operating merely in support of the firms’ forensic accountants and investigators.
We are seeing this around the world right now, with different emphases and trends by region. If any of it sounds familiar and you would like to know more about the opportunities and challenges for eDiscovery consulting partners and practitioners, please visit my profile and contact me, all in strict confidence.
Credit to Author: Daniel Gold, ESQ. eDiscovery Consultant. Author. Public Speaker.
Original source material: https://kansascityediscovery.com/next-era-ediscovery-here/ & https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-next-era-of-e-discovery-is-already-49185/
