The Changing Environment for Litigation Support Professionals
by Sheryl Karstensen, Professional Services Group
The universe for litigation professionals is in a constant state of change. We have all experienced the shift over the past few years from paper documents to electronic content in various forms, with Microsoft Office arguably the most widely used application for generating electronically stored information. MS Office applications are notorious for creating copious amounts of metadata by default, which raises major concerns for litigation support professionals as well as litigators. As a result, this led to a wave of data conversion to TIFF for all electronically stored information in support of litigation.
With the economic crisis causing widespread budget cuts in the legal industry, many organizations are now requiring their outside counsel to perform document review in native format, and limit TIFF conversion and production to the smallest set of data possible. In moving to this policy, organizations are mitigating risk as well as realizing huge cost savings in terms of document review and production. Furthermore, with the Sedona Conference’s issuance of the Cooperation Proclamation, courts and litigators becoming more knowledgeable about e-Discovery, and the economic downturn we are finally seeing a bit of shift in power in an industry that has previously been out of control with regard to litigation costs.
Fios will be presenting a series of webcasts geared to litigation support professionals, with the first beginning this month. Join Fios for Electronic Discovery 101 for Litigation Support and Paralegals on July 21, 2009. The litigation support webcast series will continue in the Fall; you can learn more about these upcoming webcasts as they are scheduled, and additional information, on the Fios e-Discovery Resources for Litigation Support Professionals page.
Filed under Discerning e-Discovery.