It's no secret that law firms—of all sizes—face increasing pressure from clients to provide better, faster, cheaper and transparent legal services. The days are gone when a lawyer could send a bill “for services rendered” and expect payment with no questions asked.

Add to that the explosion of information generated by new technologies. We now live in the era of Big Data—information created via smartphones, email, social media and the Internet of Things (devices that send data to the Internet with no human intervention)—and all that data may be relevant in litigation. Figuring out how to manage electronic data discovery, with the best combination of people, processes and technology, can be taxing for even the smartest law firm leaders.

Over the last decade, e-discovery has matured, as have options available to law firms, corporate law departments and government agencies. Organizations have explored everything from creating internal teams to handle all aspects of e-discovery, to outsourcing overseas or in-sourcing (creating e-discovery outposts in the U.S., but in less expensive regions). But a hybrid option is gaining traction, especially with the Am Law 200: e-discovery managed services (EMS).