Costs of eDiscovery continue to rise as an ever-increasing number of documents, emails and other forms of evidence are being created, making it even harder to manage expenses in “small” cases. What counts as a “small” case is hard to define, but what we’re worried about here is where the costs of discovery can swallow the amount in controversy. More importantly, to avoid that fate, the two most important tools at your disposal are competence and cooperation.

Competence starts with you. The better you understand the available resources, technology, the law, any local rules and your own client’s documents, the better chance you have of keeping costs under control. If you don’t feel up to the task, the Sedona Conference publications are a great place to start, but it’s easy to find helpful (and shorter) articles on whatever specific topic you need guidance on.