Discovery Advocacy: eDiscovery attorneys focused on substantive client goals

Our lawyers advocate for clients on all aspects of discovery, with a focus on proportionality and defensibility. We work closely with case teams to develop and implement discovery strategies and protocols that leverage the latest legal and technological developments to meet matter-specific needs.

We consult with clients on litigation readiness, preservation planning, eDiscovery strategy, identification and targeted collection of data sources, technology-assisted review, privilege protection, and document production. We also apply knowledge gained about the documents and matter to provide substantive assistance during depositions, motions practice, and hearings. Our discovery counseling services include:

• serving as national discovery counsel
• performing litigation readiness assessments
• developing and implementing preservation plans and legal holds
• negotiating ESI protocols
• tracking developments in technology and law
• negotiating efficient privilege logging methodologies
• assisting with confidentiality agreements and protective orders
• advising on objections and responses to discovery requests
• litigating discovery disputes
• conducting and defending 30(b)(6) depositions regarding ESI
• managing discovery from preservation through trial with defensible documentation and data tracking

National Discovery Counsel

We serve as national eDiscovery counsel for clients to ensure consistency across matters – even though multiple law firms may be serving as outside counsel (and even when Troutman Pepper Locke is not merits counsel).

We consult with clients on litigation readiness; preservation planning; identification of data sources; collection, review, and analytics options; as well as privilege protection. We also leverage knowledge gained to provide substantive assistance to merits counsel during depositions and hearings.

Litigation Readiness and Response Planning

• eMerge works with clients to create new eDiscovery and litigation response plans and processes, or to revisit and update preexisting procedures. We can quickly identify potential issues and craft an appropriate strategy for managing ESI, including implementing and releasing legal holds.
• eMerge regularly assists clients with updating their eDiscovery processes to adapt to evolving technology including Microsoft Office 365.
• Our unique combination of lawyers and technologists allows us to advise on both the legal and technical aspects of litigation readiness and response. eMerge’s technical experts can engage with client IT teams on the nuts and bolts of managing and collecting data, while our lawyers provide advice regarding the relative risks, benefits, and costs of various workflows and plans based on each client’s litigation profile.
• eMerge offers clients the option of using RelativityOne’s legal hold management software for issuing and tracking legal holds, and we can assist clients with alternative legal hold applications.

Project Management: attorney project managers with technical know-how

• Our discovery professionals embody a commitment to the broader goals of each matter and “own” the discovery process to allow clients and case teams to focus on the merits.
• All eMerge matters are managed by a licensed attorney dedicated to the discovery phase of litigation. Our project managers provide a single point of contact for case teams and clients, delegate work to the most appropriate team members, and ensure that all discovery services are being performed cohesively and efficiently.

Industry-leading tools and custom applications to process, filter, analyze, produce, and present data

RelativityOne

eMerge utilizes its own customized version of the RelativityOne platform to improve the efficiency of document processing, review, and production. Our investment in RelativityOne ensures client data is hosted in the latest and most secure version of Relativity. eMerge’s RelativityOne environment includes:

• RelativityOne instances in both the US and EU
• all data analytics bundled at no added charge (email threading, near duplicate identification, concept clustering, data visualization, name normalization, and continuous active learning)
• built-in workflows to automate various aspects of the review process
• native redaction tools
• layouts, views, and reporting to reduce manual review and associated costs
• a technology team comprised of Relativity Certified Administrators with thousands of combined hours of experience

Contract Analytics Using AI

eMerge offers clients the leading machine learning-powered contract analytics platform for use on both litigations and transactions to distill key provisions from contracts more accurately and less expensively than via manual review alone.  Outlier contracts are quickly detected and anomalies are identified for further analysis.

Custom Applications

eMerge’s team of technologists also develop custom technology solutions to improve efficiencies and enable robust project management in legal matters for clients. These tools can be customized for the needs of specific clients and matters to help ensure clients are leveraging technology in order to control legal costs and reduce risks.  A few examples of eMerge’s custom applications include:

• Preview: A proprietary early case assessment tool that allows our team to defensibly reduce data volumes by searching, filtering, sampling, and visualizing the collected ESI before it has been promoted for review. Case teams can then make matter-specific decisions based on knowledge gleaned from actual documents in the earliest phase of the matter. Having an early window into the data provides an enormous advantage during negotiations over discovery scope, helps generate persuasive metrics to support burden arguments when facing overreaching discovery requests, and substantially and accurately reduces the volume of documents that are ultimately processed for review.

• LitManage: Our custom-built project management platform that integrates with Relativity to track every action taken on a document from collection through review, production, and trial. With LitManage, eMerge project managers can monitor the discovery status and costs of each matter in real-time, providing transparency for clients and case teams alike.

• Stub Finder: A process for identifying email “stubs”, or truncated versions of complete emails that are often found in exports from email systems. Removing these superfluous emails that would not otherwise be excluded during deduplication has saved our clients millions of dollars in review costs.

• Converge: A custom deduplication application to accurately identify duplicate documents and data regardless of source. Converge is particularly helpful where redundant data produced from other parties is not identified as duplicative of our own client’s documents due to different data processing methods used by each party. Converge normalizes the data and allows us to identify substantially duplicative documents regardless of what tool was used to process and produce the document. By using Converge, we can reduce the number of documents needing to be reviewed from other parties’ productions by up to 30%.

• Compilot® Inspection Manager: A custom web-based compliance inspection tracking application that empowers companies in any industry to internally navigate and track their nationwide compliance inspections with highly granular tools and preferences. The application also facilitates collaboration with outside counsel and provides proactive tools to help escalate issues and analyze risks.

Targeted Data Collections

• eMerge offers customized collection tools to enable efficient remote collection of client data from local machines, servers, mobile devices, cloud-based sources, and other media.
• Our collection process pairs an eMerge attorney with a collection specialist, allowing us to interview custodians and perform a targeted collection that excludes irrelevant data in real time. We then leverage the information gained during collection to help focus the review and prioritize productions.
• Our combination of the legal interview and technical collection in one efficient step typically reduces the volume of data collected by at least 50% compared to traditional workflows.
• When required, our certified forensic collection specialists conduct on-site collections.
• We partner with our clients’ internal IT departments to ensure efficiency and reduce costs.

Technology Assisted Review Using Continuous Active Learning: managed by attorneys who understand the posture of each matter, and supported by in-house technologists who can fully employ RelativityOne’s robust analytics capabilities

Our Managed Review service ensures that the most relevant information is identified in time to help inform case strategy and expedite dispute resolution while protecting client privileges in the most efficient, legally-defensible, and cost-effective manner.

eMerge’s integrated approach to document review provides a unique advantage because the knowledge gained during review is fully captured and quickly routed to the litigation team in time to assist with deposition preparation, exhibit selection, settlement discussions, briefing, and trial.

eMerge employs advanced technology with our legal strategy to avoid costly manual review of irrelevant documents. eMerge clients enjoy numerous advantages, including:

• A team steeped in Relativity’s advanced analytics and machine learning features, having used them on over 90% of our matters.

• Attorneys who understand the substantive issues of the case and can apply knowledge gained from collection interviews to triage reviews and deploy advanced analytics at every phase.

• Attorney review managers who are required to attend over twenty hours of annual continuing legal education and training sessions on discovery law, technology, and privilege protection.

• Document reviewers who are licensed to practice law and trained to maximize the efficiencies of our review tools.

• Privilege review teams staffed with licensed attorneys who have successfully completed eMerge’s privilege assessment and training program, which includes ongoing assessment and evaluation.

• A culture of continuous process improvement in which a dedicated managed review committee regularly revisits and improves workflows to mitigate risk, reduce redundancies, and add efficiencies, including via the development of custom applications to expedite reviews while improving accuracy.

• Review managers who facilitate constant feedback and communication between reviewers, the case team, and the client to avoid errors and inconsistent coding.

• Detailed reporting on review status and budget throughout the process.

Advanced Technology: using industry-leading tools and custom applications to process, filter, analyze, produce, and present data

eMerge utilizes its own customized version of the RelativityOne platform to improve the efficiency of document processing, review, and production. Our investment in RelativityOne ensures client data is hosted in the latest and most secure version of Relativity. eMerge’s RelativityOne environment includes:

• RelativityOne instances in both the US and EU
• all data analytics bundled at no added charge (email threading, near duplicate identification, concept clustering, data visualization, name normalization, and continuous active learning)
• built-in workflows to automate various aspects of the review process
• automated redaction tools
• layouts, views, and reporting to reduce manual review and associated costs
• a technology team comprised of Relativity Certified Administrators with thousands of combined hours of experience

Data Mapping and Data Remediation

Our lawyers and technologists leverage their experience with a diverse array of client systems, data sources, and platforms to help clients create and maintain data maps as part of their broader privacy and data security compliance programs as mandated by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other state data privacy and breach laws.

Data Breach Response Discovery

Our lawyers and technologists couple their technology-assisted review acumen with their exposure to a diverse array of client systems, data sources, and platforms to guide clients through the prompt detection and analysis of personally identifiable information as required by breach notification laws. We also assist insurance clients as a preferred provider for repeatable processes and workflows leveraging technology-assisted document review to assist insureds whose security incidents require data-intensive analysis. Our services include:

• coordinating with breach counsel and forensics teams to isolate and collect potentially relevant documents

• using custom technology solutions and knowledge of the client and its data sources to identify and isolate documents likely to contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

• leveraging technology-assisted review and managed review workflows to confirm whether the documents have PII

• using custom reporting tools to extract the necessary information to assist breach counsel with identifying individuals whose information may have been accessed and who may require notice depending on the nature of the information exposed and the state laws implicated

• generating the necessary contact and reporting details into a format that can be delivered to the notification provider

Managed eDiscovery Services: Powered by eMerge

Many of our clients with consistent eDiscovery needs across a larger portfolio of matters seek to reduce their aggregate eDiscovery costs by insourcing or outsourcing some of these services. Our eDiscovery Managed Services solution empowers our clients to have a “do it yourself” eDiscovery program that is backed and supported by our team, technology, and processes. Importantly, we give our clients the flexibility to determine which aspects of the process they would like to manage internally and which aspects they would prefer that we handle.

eMerge eDiscovery Managed Services clients benefit by using eMerge’s own customizations to Relativity, including workflows, checklists, applications, and templates that are routinely updated by our team to reflect changes in the law and technology. We offer custom packages and pricing based on how our clients use our services.

Our eDiscovery Managed Services clients also benefit from access to:

• eMerge proprietary guides and checklists for performing eDiscovery services, including guides for leveraging Microsoft Office 365 Security & Compliance Center functionality
• tailored on-site CLEs and training programs for their eDiscovery teams
• on-demand access to our library of past eDiscovery CLEs
• custom reporting options across the portfolio and at the matter level
• our annual training program for all outside merits counsel
• the eMerge eDiscovery Fellowship Program
• litigation readiness assessments

Due Diligence and Transactional Services: contract analytics through machine-learning

eMerge offers contract analytics software, secure virtual deal rooms, collaborative workspaces, custom applications, and robust project management tools to help clients identify key information while evaluating corporate transactions or for more routine contract management and compliance purposes.

eMerge’s virtual deal rooms provide the same granular security, DRM, and organizational capabilities as those offered by service providers, but at a lower cost and with greater flexibility to push subsets of documents to Relativity or a dedicated contract analytics tool.

Compilot® Inspection Manager: A custom web-based compliance inspection tracking application that empowers companies in any industry to internally navigate and track their nationwide compliance inspections with highly granular tools and preferences. The application also facilitates collaboration with outside counsel and provides proactive tools to help escalate issues and analyze risks.