An e-discovery practice group and its savings after vendor rationalization

As reported in the InsideCounsel, Sept. 2006 and 68, in 2005 Patrick Oot, formerly an antitrust lawyer, created an e-discovery practice group consisting of himself, an IT expert, another attorney and a support staff (See my posts of Oct. 1, 2005 about Pfizer and Marathon’s counterpart groups; Aug. 26, 2006 #1 regarding Cendant, Verizon and Pfizer; and Feb. 1, 2006 about Verizon and Altria.).

In February 2006 Oot and his group sent RFPs to 37 litigation support vendors and eventually chose one of them. “This resulted in a 50 percent reduction in data processing charges and a 70 percent reduction in hosting charges.” Many law departments could undertake a similar rationalization of litigation support services and enjoy comparable savings.