Review - Metrics
From Working EDRM
It is possible to track valuable details related to electronic discovery processing. By measuring those details, one can get a better understanding of the effectiveness and efficiencies of the process used. As a result, law firms and their clients, corporate counsel, can monitor important metrics to better manage client expectations and evaluate the benefits of different approaches. While technology can be a powerful asset in mitigating electronic discovery risk and expense, it is important that corporations and their law firms truly understand the impact of their investments.
One of the advantages of employing a third-party vendor for your review is that these details typically are tracked. Law firms and corporate counsel also can set up their own tracking systems, although this is a far less common practice.
A few key metrics that can help corporations and their law firms better understand the impact of a technology investment are:
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Document Decisions Per Hour
How quickly and accurately can the reviewing attorneys determine a document’s relevance? As the initial objective with each document is to determine its relevance and so much of reviewed material is not relevant to a particular legal matter, the rate at which this can be determined can generate significant cost efficiencies for the client.
Cost Per Document
How much does the client spend on each document, including both the technology cost and the attorney review cost?
Cost Per Non-Relevant Document
Reducing expenses related to irrelevant material presents one of the largest opportunities for client savings. How much does the client spend on each non-relevant document, including both the technology cost and the attorney review cost?
Relevancy Per Custodian
Understanding which custodians are providing the most relevant material often focuses the review and ensures that important documents are identified earlier in review.
Review Completion
Often in large-scale document review, understanding the amount of material left for review can be important to managing expectations and evaluating the review strategy.
Breakdown of File Types
In addition to cost savings, the ability to perform an initial review of documents in native format yields other benefits. Understanding the makeup of the document collection (e.g. what percent of the files are spreadsheets, presentations, emails or word processing documents) is useful in matching the appropriate reviewer with the appropriate material.
Work with your service provider at the beginning of the review to determine what metrics you will use to monitor review progress and evaluate its effectiveness.
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