Early Case Assessment

In today’s legal environment, successful litigation management requires a methodical and well planned approach. Understanding the underlying costs, merits of the case, and makeup of the electronic evidence is crucial given the compressed timelines dictated by the courts.

Performing an Early Case Assessment (ECA) can provide valuable insight into all of these areas and better prepare the litigation team for the “meet and confer” with the opposition. A recent industry survey indicated that performing an early case assessment resulted in a favorable outcome in 76% of cases - among other benefits.

Recent case law shows us that mere reliance on technology such as keyword searches without sampling or advanced analytics can be disastrous. By utilizing a sampling strategy, along with advanced tools such as concept search, litigators will not only ensure defensibility, but can significantly reduce costs by reducing the amount of data to be reviewed.

A well executed ECA assists the litigator and corporate counsel in understanding the following:

• The custodians involved in the matter through the use of social networking tools
• The content and the richness of the sample dataset
• The potential data sizes, quantities and costs for preparation and review
• Whether the data in the case points to litigation or settlement

Accordingly, an ECA permits an informed risk assessment of the matter so the case can be settled quickly if potential costs are too high or the results of the sample review reveal bad facts.

Our Solution

Daticon EED’s ECA provides corporate and outside counsel with tools and strategies to assist in assessing the dataset early on in the litigation or investigation.

The core of the ECA is taking a sample of documents from key custodians early on in the case and applying advanced technologies including concept searches and analytics to the dataset. This sampling can help identify key issues, people and information which may help the case team with overall case strategy. This can also inform the team of the potential collection scope, data volumes and costs, and may reveal important case issues. Ultimately, this process may help the litigation team successfully prepare for a meet and confer with the opposition.

By utilizing advanced concept search technologies and successful sampling strategies, a small team of reviewers can get through a large starting dataset. The ECA also allows priority ranking so that the most potentially relevant documents are reviewed immediately.

Components

• Detailed strategy consulting with experienced attorneys and Electronic Discovery practitioners
• Validation of proper collection strategies/ techniques
• Advanced file analytics – volume, content and data visualization
• Sampling strategies to assist with burden arguments, provide insight into the dataset and lower overall discovery costs
• Rule 26(f) and 16(b) preparation; early meet-and-confer