Kelly Twigger of ESI Attorneys is channeling Tom Cruise and his onetime alter ego Jerry Maguire. She says that in order to conduct cost-effective e-discovery, you must focus on showing “the money documents,” otherwise known as those docs that “make or break the case.”

In the face of rising litigation costs, partly because of an influx of electronic documents, she says it's best to narrow the scope of your e-discovery searches. “We are wasting millions of dollars doing discovery badly because we won't learn and cooperate,” she says. To focus on what's important, Twigger suggests analyzing the claims and asking, “Where is the money for the plaintiff? Where is the most liability for the defendant?”

She uses the example of a false-advertising claim: Where would the money be? It would come from damages and attorney fees. So the important documents could be social media posts and celebrity product endorsements. However, in other cases, such as a commercial case between two sophisticated clients that hinges on a legal question, conducting comprehensive e-discovery might not be as necessary. “Think about taking a phased approach to the litigation—putting off discovery until the court resolves the question,” she says.