Must see articles for the week of June 29:
Revealing Survey Shows Upheaval in Law Firm eDiscovery Billing Practices by Anju Khurana. Khurana does a great job of describing the challenge that eDiscovery attorneys and managers face in law firms. There remains very little consistency in practice and within law firms regarding how tasks performed along the EDRM are billed, how practitioners and staff are described and marketed to clients and how legal service providers are impacting (and cannibalizing) clients. More generally, this reflects an industry-wide failure to define how eDiscovery is integrating into modern practice.
Looking beyond the Gartner Magic Quadrant for eDiscovery Software by Chris Dale. Interesting commentary on the Magic Quadrant analysis of eDiscovery services and software.
Bursting Biglaw's Bubble by Nicole Black. Black’s perspective on technology and big law is understandable…law firms are slow to change and their failure to “quickly” adapt (and adopt) to emerging technology outdates them and raises concerns with respect to their representation of clients’ technology issues and responsibilities. As an eDiscovery attorney, I find myself conflicted with this commentary. On one hand, I completely agree and I fear that practitioners fall short of meeting increasing professional expectations regarding technological expertise. However, more importantly, I think that a hallmark of legal practice (and the business of law), founded in precedence, is to be cautious and to rely on tested practices that avoid risk where possible while meeting industry standards. I explored these issues in my post, Is the Legal Technology Conversation Encouraging a Cart Before the Horse Mentality?