Many articles have been written over the last few years about why law firms should outsource electronic data discovery (EDD) technical capabilities. Despite good points, vendor-written articles can be perceived as self-serving, intended to induce FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about internal electronic data discovery capabilities and practices. Although vendors offer a wide range of services in the area of e-discovery, few have experienced litigators fielding questions, and none can offer attorney-client privileged advice.
While there are valid reasons why EDD departments might best be outsourced — e.g., high turnover of staff, changing technologies, risk, cost or the “we just don’t want to be bothered” attitude — there are equally valid reasons why law firms should support internal EDD departments. The decision to outsource or insource an EDD department is often based on “tactical” rather than strategic reasons — size of the firm (number of attorneys and staff); costs of EDD personnel and technology; internal IT capabilities, such as disk storage, security and redundancy; and, finally, the risk to the firm and its clients. Strategic reasons why firms should insource include:
