Discovery, a once fairly straightforward process, has become exponentially more cumbersome with the adoption and proliferation of electronic data. The line between “records” and “documents” has blurred to the point of obsolescence as new forms of electronic data permeate the corporate environment and are used interchangeably to conduct the organization's business. Discovery is now synonymous with eDiscovery, which has developed into its own industry within the legal profession due to the complexity involved to preserve, collect, process, and produce electronic data from all forms that may be potentially relevant in litigation.

The couple hundred bankers boxes of documents per client that may have been arduous for legal teams to deal with 10-12 years ago has now turned into over 4 zettabytes (over 4 trillion gigabytes) of crushingly complex data worldwide. What's more, that data is doubling every 18 months with expectations that it will grow by a factor of 44 by 2020. Consider now that the cost of one gigabyte of data in discovery can be upwards of $20,000 to deal with and it's not difficult to understand how costs can soar out of control. The vast majority of that cost, roughly 80-90 percent, lies in the attorney review phase of the data's discovery lifecycle. Given that, it is crucial to develop and implement strategies to reduce the cost of review when dealing with eDiscovery in order to efficiently and effectively manage a case. What follows are four simple strategies that, when properly approached and implemented, can greatly reduce the cost of review for almost any type and size of matter.

1. Take time to plan and investigate up front. When document review costs as much as it does, limiting the amount of data that is collected for review is the first step toward reducing spend. It may seem simple but, surprisingly, many attorneys skip this step, or at least don't pay much attention to it (reasons for which is a topic unto itself). Understanding your client's data—what is created, why, where it's kept, how it's kept, to what does it relate—is a very important first step in avoiding over collection and downstream processing and review costs. Another key consideration is to bring in a trusted source to help understand the process and what options are available. Doing this at the outset of a matter, rather than once you're in a crunch, will make the entire eDiscovery process more efficient.