The technology equation in law firms is complicated and challenged by an evolving list of needs that seek to exceed client expectations while balancing time and cost. Layered on top of potentially competing decision-makers is an ever-changing list of priorities that spans one or more invested law firm demographics and includes (in order of importance);
Versatility – For large firms with diverse clientele, products need to be versatile to fit large and small matters and linear review to predictive coding
Holistic Solution(s) – Law firms are looking to legal technology to solve ever-increasing issues and a product, vendor or mixture of solutions should be assessed to address cyber-security, information governance as well as more traditional eDiscovery needs.
In-house versus Outsourcing – How do firms balance the flexibility and long-term cost of internal solutions with the advantages of up-to-the-moment resources where your costs are a la carte.
Cost to the Client – What are the fees associated with specific products and what cost sensitivities exist from single plaintiffs to financial institutions?
Cost to the Firm – What institutional costs are there (dedicated servers, bandwidth, computing hardware, etc.)? How does the cloud affect cost?
Functionality – Incorporating the concept of versatility above, is there a “self-service” option, how customizable are interfaces, etc.?
Cross-border Litigation/Investigation – What tools best support multi-jurisdictional, international matters and their associated issues (data privacy, liability, etc.)?
User Experience – An intuitive, robust user experience (from document reviewer to back-end analyst)
Institutional Expertise – Although being technology-agnostic is valuable, firms should be competent with all the products they employ to assure that they are meeting their responsibilities to the client
Brand – Reputation and tenure in the market is significant. A vendor who has evolved with the market more likely proves itself as viable
Customer Service – Often the vendor/client breaking point, the project management component of eDiscovery providers is an important variable.
Lawyers and firms are slow to warm to technology because of the competing tensions in a professional organization where substantive practice and process converge. Law firms would be wise to create dynamic decision matrixes that combine players and technology priorities that guide a best practices approach to vendor selection.
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