Anyone who has ever received electronic media with images and data that just didn't add up knows what a nightmare numerous incongruities within production sets can create during workflow analysis.  As practice support professionals, we understand that our responsibilities for the technical aspects of legal matters may not only influence the working atmosphere in a firm, but also potentially influence the outcome of a case.  To ensure smooth production, it is critical to exercise some basic rules.  After many years of trial and error exercises, sleepless nights and busy weekends, we at Hogan & Hartson developed and implemented best practices to ensure a smooth and worry-free document production process.  Our goal was clear:  create a well-oiled initial process for production output.  That process includes the following steps:

Involvement.  Prepare yourself from the beginning of a case, and be ready to clearly execute standard development guidelines.  This means rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in preliminary negotiations as well as in ongoing support.  Attorneys can sometimes be reluctant to get practice support involved at the start of the process.  Nevertheless, reach out and help everyone understand that the workflow in place is important for achieving desirable results.  Prepare the team for heavy interaction not only during post production stages, but also throughout the entire life cycle of the case.  Once you establish practice support as a contributing factor to the litigation process, the rest of the team will value and consider your opinion before making important decisions.

Education.  Be prepared to educate attorneys and your consumers on the latest trends in e-discovery processes.  Familiarize yourself and everyone involved with the swiftly evolving rules and regulations, including the importance of proper data handling and how your team needs to be involved in that process.  Educate the appropriate parties as to why "meet and confers" can no longer be lawyer-only conferences.  Bring your knowledge to the table and think ahead.  Well-executed positioning during initial discussions and meetings will relieve tension among producing parties and will result in agreements that will set the foundation for discovery and your positive contribution to the future of the case.

Do not stress over minor details, but focus on the big picture.  Evaluate the skill levels of your team members.  Generate case-specific examples of production work and reports that outline possible scenarios.  Analyze prior litigation experiences in which your team was involved.  This preparation at the outset will simplify life not only for your practice support staff, but also for your client, lead attorneys and even the vendor who is going to process the data.

Precision and neatness is of the utmost importance throughout the production stages.  Establish dedicated and customized workflow guidelines for each of the cases you are supporting, and follow those guidelines with the production of each document.  Make sure to log all of the steps executed in prior productions as well as production dates, ranges, media and amounts produced.  Many cases will stay active for years.  If you are no longer available to support the case, make sure that the person who inherits the case can easily identify your process and continue the workflow without creating a problem for the case team.  Store produced documents in an organized manner, and keep in mind that people going through the documents may not be as familiar with the technology.  Build database(s) in a sensible fashion and consider factors such as server organization, document location, backup data and media location.

Collection.  To execute successful production and overall smooth case support, it is important to get involved at the data collection stage.  We often advise our clients on the proper collection of electronically stored information (ESI) considering current retention and document hold policies that have been implemented within our organization.  Even though many clients are efficiently staffed to manage and collect ESI, it is crucial to guide the process to meet your specifications.  Establishing your presence early and determining collection guidelines will simplify your future processes.

Processing.  Processing data is an important step in the initial preparations for production.  Producing ESI may become very difficult if the data is not properly processed by your vendor.  Before selecting a third-party consultant, carefully consider various factors.  In addition to considering pricing and turnaround time, inquire about what applications and processes the vendor has in place.  It is important that you understand your vendor's workflow to efficiently provide specifications throughout the project.  Ask for unbiased references and follow-up with a call.  Before giving up your data, ensure you have a reliable consultant who will not jeopardize data and who can deliver expected results.  Choose a provider that you trust will be around for the entire life cycle of a case.

Output and delivery.  Producing documents without understanding your opposing party's process can be cumbersome and frustrating.  With the necessary legal involvement and permission, touch base with your technical counterpart and develop a strategy for your delivery process.  Discuss output data parameters, as well as the applications used for review.  If data is rather sizable, discuss the possibility of delivering this information on hard drives to avoid possible CD/DVD creation errors.  Set up image format standards and well as delimiters for load files.  If production includes items other than data, images and native files, provide a clear description of your process and how you handle the data.  Your litigation team will benefit from your efficient technical input.

Following these steps helps ensure that you carefully consider all available data production options and ultimately propose the best solutions.  Remember that your good work as a practice support professional can have a positive impact on the outcome of any case.

About our author :: :: ::

Vadim Bergelson is a Litigation Support Coordinator at Hogan & Hartson LLP in New York overseeing daily practice support operations.  He has more than 10 years of litigation support experience.  Prior to joining Hogan in 2004, he worked for Schulte Roth and Zabel LLP and a tier-one vendor.  Vadim holds a degree in Computer and Information Science from Brooklyn College of New York with prior studies in criminal justice.  He can be reached at vbergelson@hhlaw.com.