Thanks to today’s innovative technology, modern legal professionals can bypass the hassle of storing dozens of legal documents in thick, cumbersome binders and racing from meeting to meeting. Now, attorneys can easily conduct depositions right from their home office and efficiently communicate with colleagues via Teams or Slack.
Legal professionals are even leveraging the power of cloud-based solutions to collect and produce important information, decrease litigation costs, and streamline workflow.
To make the most of this ever-changing technology, legal professionals must stay abreast of eDiscovery trends.
Here are the top five new eDiscovery trends of 2022 and what they mean for you.
Let’s get started!
1. More Complex eDiscovery Architectures
In the past, most material would be reviewed on a single laptop in a private office. But as devices and data have continued to proliferate, this is hardly the case anymore.
In 2022, legal professionals will likely be faced with a diverse array of file types, including chat, mobile, and video. This will boost the complexity of eDiscovery environments.
In a post-pandemic world, recorded video conference calls can now be used as discoverable evidence. Though this is beneficial for attorneys, sitting through a Zoom meeting can take up hours of your time. People love to ramble!
Because of this, automated transcription will become an essential tool for finding useful nuggets of information amid irrelevant chatter. Furthermore, as data volumes continue to grow, so will the need to efficiently collect, process, review, and create structured data types for smartphones, laptops, apps, messages, and chats.
2. Decision-Making Will Be Influenced by Automation Tech
Law firm associates will increasingly rely on automated tech to accelerate time-consuming processes, such as assigning documents to numerous people for review or prioritizing materials to assess through predictive coding.
Workflow automation is a crucial part of discovery. These solutions help save attorneys time on cumbersome tasks to concentrate on more important matters.
3. Virtual Law Offices Won’t Go Anywhere
Despite more and more people opting to get vaccinated against COVID-19, remote work is here to stay. Virtual hearings, trials, and depositions will be used more and more as we get deeper into the decade. This fuels the need for collaborative tech features, including secure sharing and real-time editing.
If your law firm hasn’t embraced these eDiscovery tools yet, now is the time to do so.
4. Cloud Services Will Become the Norm
In the coming years, many more law firms will be using cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, including Google Workspace and Salesforce. While this allows legal professionals to store many important legal documents in one convenient location, they will still need to set up the proper procedures on how to efficiently review data on these cloud platforms.
Software providers will need to keep up with the ever-growing demand by coming up with new types of files and fresh ways for legal teams to effortlessly upload and view unusual file types.
5. eDiscovery Managed Service Providers Will Become Essential
In 2022 and beyond, eDiscovery managed services providers (eDMSPs) will become critical. For many years, eDiscovery was a cottage industry. Now that it is far more widespread, more law firms are using these solutions daily.
For this reason, it’s important for your law practice to find an experienced eDMSP partner.
Final Thoughts
The eDiscovery landscape is swiftly evolving. It’s imperative for law firms to keep up by understanding best practices for these technologies. By partnering with First Legal, your law firm can harness the power of eDiscovery now and well into the future.
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