{"id":35763,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/selecting-an-e-discovery-service-provider-in-an-uncertain-market.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"selecting-an-e-discovery-service-provider-in-an-uncertain-market","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/law-library\/selecting-an-e-discovery-service-provider-in-an-uncertain-market.html","title":{"rendered":"Selecting an e-Discovery Service Provider in an Uncertain Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

This article was edited and reviewed by FindLaw Attorney Writers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n | Last reviewed\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

In today's economy, corporations and law firms can incur significant risk if they rely on e-discovery vendors that are not financially stable. Loss of data access due to provider bankruptcy or system shutdowns can be fatal to a case. To help clients evaluate the viability of your current or future service providers, Fios has developed the following “e-Discovery Service Provider Due Diligence Checklist”:<\/p>

  • Does the e-discovery service provider have a history of operating as a stable business entity?<\/b><\/div>
    • How long has the service provider in business?<\/div><\/li>
    • Has the provider undergone any significant layoffs?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
    • Does the e-discovery service provider have a robust balance sheet that will allow it to weather the current economic downturn as well as the volatility of a litigation-driven marketplace?<\/b><\/div>
      • Has the vendor demonstrated profitability and year-over-year growth over a sustained period?<\/div><\/li>
      • Will the provider be willing to disclose its balance sheet?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
      • Does the e-discovery service provider have a technology infrastructure that is owned or leased?<\/b><\/div>
        • What level of investments has the provider made in its technology infrastructure over the past two years?<\/div><\/li>
        • How scalable is provider’s technology infrastructure to support large, ongoing, multi-terabyte matters across multiple review team members?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
        • Are the personnel operating the provider’s infrastructure employees of the company or contractors?<\/b><\/div>
          • How much of the provider’s data processing, review management, production and consulting services are outsourced to third parties?<\/div><\/li>
          • What quality control systems does the provider have in place to ensure accuracy, defensibility and transparency throughout the process?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
          • Are the practitioners delivering services to clients certified in project management, legal and information technology disciplines?<\/b><\/div>
            • What level of project management services and expertise does the provider dedicate to their clients’ e-discovery engagements?<\/div><\/li>
            • What level of training and education do the project managers, technical experts and consulting team members possess?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
            • Does the company have the scale and experience to support litigation, antitrust review and investigation matters with large data volumes, high sensitivity and compressed timelines?<\/b><\/div>
              • What type of issues or cases has the provider supported its clients on over the past year?<\/div><\/li>
              • What are the most common services delivered by the provider – smaller, quick-turn projects or long-term, full-service e-discovery engagements across multiple phases of the e-discovery process?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
              • Does the company have a mechanism to guarantee clients access to their data?<\/b><\/div>
                • Have there been any complaints or grievances filed against the service provider in the past 12 months?<\/div><\/li>
                • What are the provider’s clients saying about them? What’s the provider’s level of referenceability?<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>

                  Carefully analyzing the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of service providers is critical to finding the right partner for both your short- and long-term e-discovery needs. It will also help in determining the best approach for transferring data from one vendor to another, if required. When handled improperly, data migration can result in lost work product, corrupted metadata, lengthy interruptions to document review and missed production dates. Fios’ e-discovery experts understand that each migration scenario presents its own unique set of requirements based on timelines, budget and review strategies. For more information on our data migration services and how we can help,<\/p>

                  About the Author:<\/i><\/b><\/p>

                  Laura Webster has more than 15 years experience providing technical and project management guidance on software development and e-discovery engagements. She regularly works with clients to develop and define solutions for managing all phases of e-discovery, with a specialization in workflows for complex cases involving large electronic data volumes. Laura holds a graduate certificate in Software Engineering from Oregon Graduate Institute and a Bachelors degree in Economics and Psychology from Willamette University.<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  In today’s economy, corporations and law firms can incur significant risk if they rely on e-discovery vendors that are not financially stable. Loss of data access due to provider bankruptcy or system shutdowns can be fatal to a case. To help clients …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6509,6497,6516],"class_list":["post-35763","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-law-library__health-law","corporate_categories-law-library","corporate_categories-law-library__science-computers-technology-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/35763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=35763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}