eDiscovery Services
Comprehensive electronic discovery services following EDRM standards with advanced TAR/predictive coding, reducing document review costs by 30-50% while ensuring defensibility.
Overview
Our eDiscovery services streamline the identification, collection, and review of electronically stored information (ESI) for litigation following the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) nine-stage framework. We handle massive volumes of data efficiently using advanced processing platforms (Relativity, Nuix Discover), Technology Assisted Review (TAR), and predictive coding with Large Language Models (LLMs) like Relativity aiR. Our approach reduces document review costs by 30-50% through strategic culling, deduplication, early case assessment, and AI-driven review workflows. Document review traditionally accounts for up to 70% of total eDiscovery costs—our methodology dramatically reduces this burden while maintaining defensibility and accuracy.
When You Need This Service
Large-scale commercial litigation with millions of documents requiring cost-effective review strategies
Regulatory investigations and government compliance reviews (SEC, DOJ, FTC) requiring rapid response and comprehensive production
Class action lawsuits requiring extensive document review across multiple custodians and data sources
Corporate mergers and acquisitions due diligence involving contract review, risk assessment, and data room management
Employment discrimination and harassment cases requiring sensitive data handling and privilege review
Intellectual property and trade secret litigation involving source code, technical documents, and email analysis
Multi-jurisdictional litigation requiring coordinated discovery across international data sources
Our Methodology
EDRM-aligned workflow: Information Governance → Identification → Preservation → Collection → Processing → Review → Analysis → Production → Presentation
Early Case Assessment (ECA) using advanced analytics to provide high-level data overview, inform retention decisions, and reduce costs by performing in-house analysis before outside counsel transfer
Targeted collection strategies to avoid over-collection through precise scoping by date ranges, custodians, file types, and search terms
Pre-processing data culling: Deduplication (reducing redundant documents by ~37%), de-NISTing (removing system files), spam/newsletter filtering, and language filtering
Domain parsing to efficiently reduce review universe by removing non-responsive email domains
Email threading to identify conversation groups and review only inclusive emails containing entire thread history
Processing and indexing of ESI using Relativity or Nuix Discover with metadata extraction, OCR for images, and full-text indexing
Technology Assisted Review (TAR): Training machine learning models with expert reviewer input to classify documents, reducing manual review by 30-50%
Predictive coding using LLMs (Relativity aiR) that generate useful results almost immediately compared to traditional TAR training rounds
Advanced filtering using keywords, concept clustering, date ranges, and file type restrictions
Document review workflows with privilege logging, redaction, issue coding, and quality control sampling
Production formatting per Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or opposing counsel specifications (TIFF, PDF, native files)
Load file creation (DAT, OPT, LFP) for importing into litigation databases with metadata fields and endorsements
Quality control validation including random sampling, second-level review, and privilege/work product verification
Defensibility documentation: Processing reports, culling statistics, TAR validation metrics, and methodology justification
What You Receive
Processed and hosted data in secure Relativity or comparable review platform with role-based access controls and audit trails
Privilege logs documenting withheld documents with basis for privilege claim (attorney-client, work product)
Redacted document sets with Bates numbering and confidentiality designations
Production sets in agreed-upon formats: TIFF images with OCR, searchable PDFs, or native files with metadata
Load files (DAT/CSV) containing metadata fields, document relationships, and production numbering for database import
Processing reports documenting data volumes, deduplication rates, file types, custodians, and date ranges
Defensibility documentation: TAR validation results (precision, recall, F1 scores), culling decisions, and methodology justification suitable for court challenges
Early Case Assessment reports with data statistics, key custodians, hot documents, and case strategy recommendations
Ongoing technical support throughout discovery including platform training, search assistance, and production coordination
Cost analysis and forecasting for multi-phase reviews with volume projections and budget recommendations
Frequently Asked Questions
What is eDiscovery and when is it needed in litigation?
eDiscovery (electronic discovery) is the process of identifying, collecting, and reviewing electronically stored information (ESI) for legal proceedings. It is required in virtually all modern litigation under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26, which mandates parties exchange relevant ESI during discovery. Common scenarios include commercial litigation requiring email and document review, employment disputes involving HR systems and communications, regulatory investigations demanding rapid production to government agencies, intellectual property cases requiring source code analysis, and class action lawsuits with millions of documents. Over 90% of all business information is now electronic, making eDiscovery essential rather than optional in contemporary legal practice.
How does Technology Assisted Review (TAR) reduce eDiscovery costs?
TAR uses machine learning algorithms to identify relevant documents, reducing manual review time by 30-50% compared to linear review. The process works by having senior attorneys review a "seed set" of documents to train the algorithm, which then predicts relevance for remaining documents, prioritizing likely-relevant materials for review. Modern predictive coding with Large Language Models (LLMs) like Relativity aiR generates useful results almost immediately without extensive training rounds. Cost savings are substantial: a 1-million-document review costing $500,000 with linear review might cost $250,000-$350,000 with TAR. Courts increasingly accept and encourage TAR, with judicial opinions in Da Silva Moore v. Publicis Groupe and Rio Tinto v. Vale establishing defensibility standards.
What is the typical cost of eDiscovery services?
eDiscovery costs vary significantly based on data volume, complexity, and review requirements. Typical pricing: Data processing ($50-$150 per GB), hosted review platform ($10-$30 per GB per month), document review ($50-$350 per hour depending on attorney level), TAR/predictive coding setup ($15,000-$50,000), privilege review premium ($75-$200 per hour), and production formatting ($0.10-$0.50 per page). For a typical mid-size case with 500GB and 100,000 documents, total costs might range from $75,000-$200,000. Early Case Assessment and strategic culling can reduce costs by 40-60% by narrowing the review universe before expensive attorney review begins.
How long does the eDiscovery process take from collection to production?
eDiscovery timelines depend on data volume, complexity, and court deadlines. Typical phases include: Data collection and preservation (1-2 weeks), processing and indexing (3-7 days for typical volumes), Early Case Assessment (1-2 weeks), document review (2-8 weeks depending on volume and staffing), privilege review and quality control (1-2 weeks), and production formatting and delivery (3-5 days). A standard case with 250,000 documents might span 8-12 weeks from collection to final production. Rush matters can be expedited with additional resources, and phased productions (producing in batches) can accelerate time-to-first-production for urgent matters. Strategic use of TAR can compress review timelines significantly.
What is the difference between eDiscovery and digital forensics?
While related, they serve different purposes in legal matters. Digital forensics focuses on forensically sound evidence collection and analysis with emphasis on chain of custody, deleted file recovery, timeline reconstruction, and expert witness testimony. It answers "what happened" questions through deep technical investigation using tools like EnCase and Cellebrite. eDiscovery focuses on identifying, collecting, and reviewing large volumes of documents for relevance and privilege, employing processing platforms (Relativity, Nuix), predictive coding, and efficient review workflows to manage discovery obligations. In practice, many cases require both: forensics for initial preservation and key evidence identification, then eDiscovery for comprehensive document review and production. We provide both services and coordinate seamlessly between forensic examination and scaled eDiscovery workflows.
Can you help with small law firms that don't have eDiscovery experience?
Absolutely. We specialize in supporting small to mid-size law firms navigating complex eDiscovery for the first time. Our services include eDiscovery project management and consultation, cost estimation and budget planning with transparent pricing, preservation advice and litigation hold implementation, proportionality analysis to right-size discovery efforts, technology platform training (Relativity, review software), Meet and Confer support and discovery plan negotiation, opposing counsel cooperation and ESI protocols, and expert testimony on eDiscovery methodology if challenged. We act as your technical team, providing the infrastructure, expertise, and support that large firms maintain in-house, but at engagement-based pricing accessible to smaller practices. Many of our attorney clients are solo practitioners or boutique firms handling their first major ESI case.
Related Services
Explore our other digital forensics capabilities