Ediscovery 2014 Mid-Year Update: What’s Trending Now
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the polar vortex is slowly becoming a distant memory. July 4th is just around the corner and that means we are almost half-way through the year – just in time for a mid-year update on the latest trends in ediscovery!
This week I was invited by an Am Law 100 law firm to provide its practice support team with an update on the latest ediscovery trends for 2014. When I was preparing for my presentation, I realized how quickly the trends in ediscovery evolve and discovered that the latest trends are different now than they were only 6 months ago. For example, many of the CLE sessions Legal Tech New York in February anticipated that predictive coding and information governance were going to be the hottest trending topics in 2014. As we reach the mid-point of 2014, these two topics and more are what’s hot in ediscovery. The top 5 currently trending areas in ediscovery are:
1) Predictive Coding – Predictive Coding is being used on an increasing number of ediscovery projects. It reduces litigation expenditures and is a great resource for both small and large ediscovery proceedings.
2) Data Triage – Downward cost pressures are driving new EDA and document review practices. Searching strategies are shifting which forces innovative and creative ediscovery practices.
3) Portfolio Management – Ediscovery services and software are being purchased at the portfolio level to curb costs. Buying patterns are changing resulting in more fixed-cost and subscription pricing models.
4) Information Governance – Big data is king and causing struggle now more than ever for corporations. The interplay of ESI and big data is still a conundrum for a large number of companies.
5) FRCP – US Civil Procedure Rules are likely to change in December 2015. With two major hurdles down and three to go in the amendment process, by 2015 there will be new versions of Rules 1, 4, 16, 26, 34, and 37.