Every litigator has felt it: that moment when a case budget starts slipping – and you know exactly where the dollars are going. It’s not flashy technology or forensic imaging that breaks the bank. It’s document review. Because if you truly want to turn litigation support into a profit center, pricing cannot be an afterthought. It must be intentional, defensible, and built around real value, for both the client and the firm.

 In parts 1 and part 2 of this series, we discussed auditing your current eDiscovery reality and building a scalable, hybrid model supported by trusted vendor partners. Now it’s time to address the final – and often most sensitive – part of the journey: how to price your services. 

In the first blog post of this series, we focused on auditing your current eDiscovery environment as the essential first step in transforming litigation support into a profit center. Now it’s time to get going.

 Last week, I co-hosted a webinar called “How to Turn eDiscovery Cost into eDiscovery Profit,” all about how to bring your eDiscovery into your Litigation Support department and create a profit center for your law firm. It’s a topic I’m passionate about because I’ve done it (successfully) before. And I know the impact it can have, not just on the bottom line, but on how Litigation Support is perceived within the firm. 

At most small and medium law firms, you won’t find a litigator who is truly well-versed in the minutiae of eDiscovery from a legal and/or technical perspective. Typically, I’ve seen that eDiscovery (and anything “legal tech” in general) goes to a younger associate who is savvy with computers. But if you are leading complex litigation cases, it probably means you are being asked to manage a complicated discovery process that spans multiple platforms and data types. 

eDiscovery can be a high-stakes game in corporate litigation, and in-house legal teams are being asked to play smarter, faster, and more cost-effectively than ever before. 

eDiscovery is an unavoidable part of modern litigation and regulatory response, but for many corporate legal teams, it’s also an uncontrollable cost center.

What starts as a straightforward matter can quickly spiral into six- or seven-figure discovery bills. And often, the most significant portion of that spend is attributed to reactive workflows, inefficient collaboration with outside counsel, or late-stage data surprises that could have been mitigated earlier in the process.

Time and efficiency are vital in litigation, and eDiscovery processes are complex. Particularly when preparing for litigation, every moment spent negotiating contracts is time not spent building their case. That’s why some firms work smarter by turning to their trusted eDiscovery Services vendor to develop a Master Service Agreement (MSA).

Let's face it, the legal industry has historically been slow to adopt new technologies. But the technology landscape keeps changing, and legal teams that don’t at least attempt to keep pace risk being branded “outdated” to clients. Legal technology has become a critical strategic imperative for law firms and legal departments aiming to work smarter, from managing expanding caseloads to navigating regulatory environments to meeting client expectations for faster, more efficient service.

When preparing the often vast amounts of ESI for litigation, utilizing technology can be essential. And legal teams have two options for support: in-house or outsourcing to a vendor partner. Oftentimes, when technology is needed, the only real answer is with outsourcing as most law firms and companies don’t have internal eDiscovery resources.