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Joshua Markarian

4 Initial Questions to Ask When Evaluating an eDiscovery Vendor


Deciding on the right eDiscovery solution for your law firm or corporation can leave some unsure on where to start.


For corporate legal departments and outside counsel, eDiscovery vendors help fill in-house procedural gaps and effectively serve as an extension of their legal department. The catch, it can be difficult to know the right questions to ask to determine if the vendor is the right fit and equipped to handle your project.


Here are four initial questions to ask before committing to your next vendor.


What type of project support is offered?

When working with strict laws and regulations that enforce deadlines and attention to detail, it is critical that you choose a vendor with multiple layers of support. Some questions to ask are:

  • How available are the vendor’s employees during non-business hours?

  • How are cases staffed?

  • Who are the points of contact?

  • How are issues escalated?

  • How responsive are they?

  • What are the qualifications of the people performing the work?

  • How does the company handle project management?

How do they handle security?

All information collected during discovery must be kept secure. Ask questions about their security protocols, so you understand what measures are taken to ensure the integrity of your digital evidence. Some things to look for are:

  • How are they preserving your data?

  • Are they making multiple copies of your data (pristine and working)?

  • Are they placing your hard copies into a secure facility?

  • Are they SOC 2 Certified?

  • Are they HIPAA Compliant?

  • Do they run background checks on employees?

What licensed technology software do they use? (Software-as-a-Service) As with many industries, in eDiscovery technology is a leading factor in the recent growth and changes within the industry. As a result, you should engage a vendor that practices a technology agnostic approach and maintains licenses for various tools and solutions.

Some partnerships to look for are:

  • Relativity

  • Reveal

  • Cellebrite

  • Nuix

  • X1

What is their scope of services / Does your litigation support services vendor provide an end-to-end approach?

When selecting an ESI vendor, it is best to try and partner with a company that has the resources and capabilities to perform multiple services throughout the EDRM. This reduces costs and risks by reducing the number of vendors involved. Additionally, an end-to-end approach enables different departments to work together and create a cohesive strategy from the outset. As a sample, here are the services that we here at ClearView offer to give a good example of a vendor with a wide range of services:

  • E-Discovery

  • Digital Forensics

  • Managed Services

  • Data Analytics

  • Project Management

  • Managed Review

  • Review Database Hosting \Document Imaging

  • Traditional Reprographics

  • Consulting

Finding the Right Solution Although finding the right eDiscovery solution can be a challenge, asking these questions offers a good starting point for professional dialogue about the unique needs that each case requires. We hope this article served some benefit to you in your search for your next eDiscovery Vendor.


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