The practice negotiated a flat rate with provider D4 through which it has access to three terabytes of data. It can pay more if its needs exceed that level. The firm says it was able to calculate the rate because it was able to analyse its own e-discovery data going back four years. D4 now provides e-discovery consulting, collections and forensics, processing, predicting coding, analytics, hosting and review. 

Managed service model

Instead of getting e-discovery quotes on individual pieces of work, the firm now has the global figure to work within. Some 40 per cent of large law firms are considering moving towards a managed service model, according to The Cowen Group, an e-discovery staffing company. 

Access

Stuart Claire, Buchanan Ingersoll’s manager of litigation technology, said: ‘Every day some new technology is coming out and if you make the investment internally — unless you have the ability to go back to the well every time some new technology comes up — oftentimes you don’t have access to that if you are doing it internally. So that was an advantage of going to managed services.’ Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette