eDiscovery "Your Way" is Finally a Reality: Everything You Need to Know!

Why the one-size-fits-all era of eDiscovery is coming to an end

Few things drive a Litigation Support Director, Legal Service Provider, or Electronic Discovery case team as batty as being stuck with tech that doesn’t quite fit their needs. And let me tell you the struggle is frequent and frustrating.

eDiscovery professionals might find themselves with tech failing to scale in a case that unexpectedly blew up. Or driving the eDiscovery equivalent of a Ferrari when all they need is a super reliable Toyota. The Goldilocks challenge with eDiscovery tools is no joke!

Well, guess what... those days are now in our rearview mirror!

With the huge news that came out yesterday of Reveal’s Double Acquisition of IPRO & Logikcull, legal technology now has the first unified AI-Powered eDiscovery Platform capable of tackling any legal case at any scale.

What does that mean in practice? Reveal has you covered no matter your need:

• Whether you have a simple internal investigation of a few dozen gigs or a massive cross-border litigation, Reveal has a solution for you.
• Whether you are based in the US or span the globe, are leveraging on-premise technology or cloud, Reveal has you too.
• Whether you are all-in-on-AI or just dabbling
• Whether you want a multiyear agreement that provides stability and cost certainty or more tactical one-off access

Finally, legal tech has the freedom to choose. Talk about game changing.

The One-Size-Fits-all Era of eDiscovery is Over

For the last decade, when it came to which platform(s) an eDiscovery professional was going to use, it was not a question of which platform, but merely where you purchased it from. A formerly fragmented eDiscovery landscape was once rife with proprietary platforms and alternative data formats centralized around a single technology.

In the last ten years, the volume, variety, and velocity of electronically stored information (ESI) coupled has exploded. Metadata is messier, data more disparate and the same old tech has not adapted fast enough. For eDiscovery, a single monolithic solution just cannot fit the bill.

In the cases of complex legal matters, evolving client demands and a proliferation of downright weird data, eDiscovery programs require a more scalable, adaptable, and bespoke approach.

In truth, each legal program is a bit of a special snowflake when it comes to the deployment requirements, functionality, and suite of AI they require. eDiscovery solutions need to be nimble enough to meet each unique set of needs. and until yesterday, they all fell short.

Why should our diverse eDiscovery needs and organizations be forced to fit a square peg in a round hole? Why should we have to create workflow workarounds, and be loaded with tech debt?

Well, now that is no longer your only option.

From DIY to White-Glove

In my days running the global eDiscovery program for Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, one thing that caught me by surprise was the composition of my cases. While I often found myself diving head-first into complex cross-border cases gracing the front page of the Wall Street Journal, I just as frequently also had to tackle simple internal investigations, DSAR requests and employment matters far smaller in scale. However, my tools were not optimized to handle both ends of the spectrum.

As many lawyers in boutiques, solo practice up to the top tiers of the Amlaw200 and Fortune 50 in-house legal teams know, smaller cases are a reality no matter the size of your organization. Conversely, smaller firms and solo practitioners can easily find themselves facing down a goliath with tech that cannot scale. In each scenario, the wrong tech can cause massive headaches.

Now, by combining the global reach and trusted legacy of IPRO with the unrivaled self-service and support of Logikcull in Reveal's best AI ecosystem in legal tech clients can truly have options that fit their needs. No more square peg round hole, finally.

To Cloud or Not to Cloud?

Now the scalability and adaptability issue are not the only one facing practitioners today. Much like Hamlet’s plaintive speech, to cloud or not to cloud is hot on any legal professional’s mind. Some organizations are pushing clients aggressively into the cloud. Reveal has always firmly believed choice is imperative here too.

From the proliferation of high-profile legal cyber breaches in the last few years to the cost of continually scaling to meet the exploding data volumes and the challenge of keeping pace with the proliferation of new data sources, the allure of staying firmly on-premise is certainly dwindling.

While the work-from-home revolution has cemented for many the long-term necessity of moving to cloud-based, for legacy cases and specific outside counsel guidelines or regulatory considerations it is not as easy as flipping a switch to make this move.

As enticing as it may be to let go of fear and learn to love the cloud, it cannot always be done in one fell swoop. Often organizations will have ongoing requirements to manage existing matters in an on-premise system and if it is not an obligation, few want to fully migrate a matter mid-way through.

Having done that a few times in my career, I can most certainly speak to the pain from firsthand experience. Having solutions that can be deployed in the public cloud, your own private cloud, on-prem or mobile appliances for sensitive matters that need to stay within certain jurisdictions allows organizations to take the step into SaaS solutions at the pace that works for their risk appetite, culture, and client expectations.

Legal AI for All

One of the things that most excites me about the combined superpower of Reveal, is the opportunity to bring industry-leading AI capabilities to over 4000 organizations previously without access. I firmly believe that in terms of access to justice, democratizing access to not just tools, but industry-leading AI is a game changer.

When it comes to legal AI, I am the first to admit I have taken the red pill, and bought into the amazing impact artificial intelligence can have on rapidly surfacing evidence and insights in large, unstructured data sets. In the quest to find relevant documents, AI should be available to all, and as of yesterday it truly is!

But, for many in the legal industry, the full power of AI may not be something they want (or are able) to wield on every matter, or even at all. And that is alright. When it comes to AI in the eDiscovery process, there is a wide and varied spectrum of applications that can massively benefit organizations and legal teams of any size and level of sophistication.

The nice thing about having a flexible ecosystem at your fingertips as a legal professional is that you can pick and choose the right combination of technology to meet your organization’s needs and appetite to use more new technology. If all your team wants is email threading, any analytic solution will work.

Whereas if you want a Netflix-like experience where you can pick and choose the right model to accelerate your document review, then Reveal AI is where you want to go! From advanced visualization to powerful but intuitive Technology Assisted Review, having the choice of which tool you bring to a matter and how you deploy it is as critical as having a full toolbox as a carpenter. Say goodbye to the days when everything is like a nail because all you have at your disposal is a hammer!

From Turnkey to Self-Serve

Flexibility is also critically important when it comes to how you and your case team want to interact with the technology. If you have a robust program jam packed with deeply knowledgeable project managers a more self-service approach may be ideal, whereas if you are a leaner team or one with managed services in place the ability to engage with technology via your trusted service provider is key. That is where the power of Logikcull-A Reveal Technology is unrivaled.

And, if you have a program like I did at Gibson Dunn you need the flexibility to choose on a case-by-case basis whether you insource or outsource without having to switch to a different technology. There are differing use cases and times when a program would go self-service vs. service provider or managed services, and that is ok.

Nimbleness is about more than just the stack of technology that is deployed, it relates to what the tech can do and just how much of its functionality is dependent on you and your case team. By having tech that seamlessly plugs in with the leading legacy tech, robust strategic alliances with the leading service providers and an intuitive tool that savvy legal practitioners can engage directly with, we have covered all the bases.

Embrace Your Inner Goldilocks

Legal has been crying out for the freedom to choose, access, and powerful AI. And now Reveal offers all three in a single powerful organization and ecosystem. Our quest to uncover relevant information at organizations large and small has never been better supported!

At the end of the day, it is OK to accept that your program may require a more tailored approach to legal AI and legal technology broadly and stop settling for eDiscovery software solutions that aren't just right for your review process.

The future of eDiscovery will be an industry where there is no shame in accepting and embracing the unique company culture, infrastructure and demands of your organization and increasingly the legal tech companies that thrive will be the ones that are as nimble as you need to be!

Embrace the freedom of choice, you deserve the tech that actually fits your needs!