As law departments continue to focus on the bottom line, many are now taking a more hands-on approach to e-discovery. Their efforts range from bringing part or all of the work in-house to hiring and supervising the e-discovery vendors themselves. Not that long ago, outside counsel almost always handled the selection and engagement of these vendors.
In some cases, in-house counsel are getting involved because they want more control over the vendors used in order to develop a preferred list to cut down on project startup time and control costs. Increasingly, they are opting to choose vendors based on competencies and capabilities in areas critical to litigation that are outside of e-discovery, such as investigations and compliance. Also, in-house counsel may feel that a vendor’s superior data security practices may trump easy-to-use analytic capabilities.
