EDD Update

2008 Socha-Gelbmann EDD Survey Sneak Preview

The anxiously awaited 2008 Socha-Gelbmann EDD Survey executive summary will be published in the August issue of Law Technology News, but here is a sneak preview to whet your appetite.

This year we gathered information from or about 107 EDD services and software providers, and from 29 law firms and 19 corporations.  Using more than 350 qualitative and quantitative factors, we ranked those providers - top overall EDD services providers, top overall EDD software providers, and top EDD providers in various categories.  Although one can, and perhaps should, take issue with the specific rankings, we feel that the providers listed below represent the best of the best, an elite cadre singled out from a field of well over 600 organizations that offer some form of EDD services or software.

Katie's Corner #050108

At EDD Update, we link fairly regularly to vendor resources--websites, podcasts, webinars, white papers.  There are tons of these, and many are very useful.   But just a few years ago, a vendor website as a source of information might have been regarded with suspicion, if not dismissed outright.  Wouldn’t it just be self-promotion? 

Yes, of course. There’s self-promotion to a large extent.  But these sites can’t--and shouldn’t--be dismissed out of hand.  Given the hundreds of EDD companies out there, some companies have been looking for a way to be heard above the internet white noise--and providing valuable information to potential customers is one such way.  The result?  The customer wins.

EDD Showcase: Discovery Overload

Jason Baron's article, posted below, appeared in the January issue of Law Technology News.

Lawyers of a certain age — especially those of us who recall the joys of IBM selectric typewriters — must confront the fact that litigation today is a different animal, especially when it comes to search and retrieval issues posed by massive document productions.

Vendors Take Note!

Allow me please to comment on an excellent article written by the New York Law Journal's Anthony Lin entitled "Sullivan & Cromwell Suit Against Vendor Highlights Problems With E-Discovery" http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1199441137204

As many of my collegues, I occasionally find myself time quite enraged by the promises of certain EDD vendors that use all possible means known to man to land a project just to come up short in delivery.  It takes a tremendous effort and extensive experience to see through all their shenanigans during the "pitching process" in order to select a vendor that would not only stand by their promises but would work with you as well as your internal and external clients to adapt to the demands of a case and deliver the necessary service.

All of us know a few of those that get most of our business. Unfortunately, they constantly need to compete with the others that let's just say use less than ethical approach to land a project, often knowing in advance that they would not be able to deliver inside the required budget and time frame.

This is not an old-fashioned "vendor bashing" but rather a celebration of our bellowed industry's evolution to a new level where everyone involved in the complex process of EDD will carry responsibility for the quality of the work they submitted and promises they made.

I therefore highly encourage the vendor community to take note!