Despite advances in calculating risk exposure and preventing certain types of commercial disputes, litigation is often inevitable. Attorneys must grapple with developing an accurate estimate of the costs of even routine litigation tasks because of the many variables involved in each case and the unpredictable amount of electronic records that may be involved.

Corporate clients demand increasingly precise litigation budgets as they face board pressure to predict, control and reduce legal expenses. Early data assessment (EDA) is one way that attorneys can help their clients understand the probable costs and risks of a certain dispute. By using EDA, attorneys can search, organize and sample a collection of electronically stored information (ESI) before the data set is fully processed to make informed decisions about case strategy.

Effective EDA provides several cost-saving benefits because it helps attorneys:

The insight gained through EDA goes a long way toward informing the litigation budget. EDA provides the client and its attorneys with a clear picture of what their priorities should be and the resources necessary to perform related tasks efficiently and cost-effectively. For example, once a preliminary data set shows the probable volume of ESI requiring in-depth processing, the client and attorneys can discuss options regarding renting off-site space, hiring contractors and retaining legal process outsourcing specialists.

For more information on estimating the costs of litigating, developing and managing a litigation budget and reducing litigation costs, see Litigation Budget Toolkit. For more information on how to use EDA during the early case assessment process, see Practice Note, The Advantages of Early Data Assessment.