How Insourcing E-Discovery Affects Law Departments and Firms

Insourcing of legal services constitutes  a major shift in the legal market. Seventy- seven percent of those surveyed in Exterro’s 2016 In‑House Legal Benchmarking Report said that half or more of their organization’s legal services – legal holds, document review, data collection/processing – were conducted internally. Seventy-six percent expect to perform more legal services in‑house in the next two years. The major reason is the expense of law firm/service provider services. But in‑house legal teams are struggling with how to insource in a defensible manner.

Legal project management software is designed to orchestrate the activities associated with legal projects, such as e‑discovery, matter intake and witness deposition. Its value is becoming better understood by many in‑house legal departments, simply because traditional project management practices may not be effective with an increased workload. On the law firm side, however, legal project management is still a relatively new idea. To stay competitive and stop losing business to less expensive, more flexible competitors – or in‑house legal departments themselves – firms need to adopt practices that improve productivity and empower faster and less expensive outcomes.

Companies wanting to move more of the legal process in‑house, and law firms wanting to stay competitive as client expectations change, will need to invest more in the legal project management process. That means more training, more personnel, executive buy‑in to change in the business model, and adopting new legal project management software to help manage and orchestrate the process.