Early case assessment
Encyclopedia
Early case assessment refers to estimating risk
(cost of time and money) to prosecute or defend
a legal case
. Global organizations deal with legal discovery and disclosure
requests for electronically stored information
"ESI" and paper
documents on a regular basis.
Over 90% of all cases settle prior to trial
. Oftentimes an organization will spend significant time and money on a case only to find they want to settle for whatever reason. Legal discovery costs are usually the most burdensome financially to both plaintiff
and defendant
. Often, and during cases in the United States
, an opposing party will strategize on how to make it as difficult as possible for you to comply with the discovery process, including time and cost to respond to discovery requests. Because of this, organizations have a continued need to conduct early case assessment to determine their risks and benefits of taking a case to trial without painful settlement discussions.
Many service organizations, law firms, and corporations refer to early case assessment differently. Consultants hired by the corporation or law firm on a case manage cases on a risk basis. There also exist a number of software tools that assist in and help facilitate the process of early case assessment, including Exterro, Inc.
Effective early case assessment might require the combination of professional expertise and software. This pairing, depending on the professional and tools used can provide various degrees of early case assessment review. Early case assessment, as a managed process, often requires customization to each case and the client involved.
The early case assessment lifecycle will typically include all of the following:
Early case assessment software is typically used by attorneys, corporate legal departments, risk managers, forensics teams, IT professionals and independent consultants to help them analyze unstructured electronically stored information.
The software approach to early case assessment typically includes the following:
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
(cost of time and money) to prosecute or defend
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
a legal case
Legal case
A legal case is a dispute between opposing parties resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case may be either civil or criminal...
. Global organizations deal with legal discovery and disclosure
Discovery (law)
In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...
requests for electronically stored information
Electronically stored information
Electronically stored information, for the purpose of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is information created, manipulated, communicated, stored, and best utilized in digital form, requiring the use of computer hardware and software....
"ESI" and paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
documents on a regular basis.
Over 90% of all cases settle prior to trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
. Oftentimes an organization will spend significant time and money on a case only to find they want to settle for whatever reason. Legal discovery costs are usually the most burdensome financially to both plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
and defendant
Defendant
A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...
. Often, and during cases in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, an opposing party will strategize on how to make it as difficult as possible for you to comply with the discovery process, including time and cost to respond to discovery requests. Because of this, organizations have a continued need to conduct early case assessment to determine their risks and benefits of taking a case to trial without painful settlement discussions.
Many service organizations, law firms, and corporations refer to early case assessment differently. Consultants hired by the corporation or law firm on a case manage cases on a risk basis. There also exist a number of software tools that assist in and help facilitate the process of early case assessment, including Exterro, Inc.
Exterro, Inc.
Exterro, Inc. is a software company based in Portland, Oregon, United States, that develops software for the legal industry. It has satellite offices located in Chicago, and Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India...
Effective early case assessment might require the combination of professional expertise and software. This pairing, depending on the professional and tools used can provide various degrees of early case assessment review. Early case assessment, as a managed process, often requires customization to each case and the client involved.
The early case assessment lifecycle will typically include all of the following:
- Perform a risk-benefit analysisRisk-benefit analysisRisk–benefit analysis is the comparison of the risk of a situation to its related benefits. Exposure to personal risk is recognized as a normal aspect of everyday life. We accept a certain level of risk in our lives as necessary to achieve certain benefits. In most of these risks we feel as though...
. - Place and manage a legal holdLegal holdA legal hold is a process which an organization uses to preserve all forms of relevant information when litigation is reasonably anticipated....
on potentially responsive documents (paper and ESI) in appropriate countries. - Preserve information abroad.
- Gather relevant information for attorney and expert document reviewDocument reviewDocument review is a task performed by attorneys in anticipation of legal proceedings or during the discovery phase of litigation. Document review requires the attorneys to assess the relevance and/or responsiveness of documents, using knowledge about the facts of the case and the issues of law...
. - Process potentially relevant information for purposes of filtering, search termSearch engine technologyModern web search engines are complex software systems using the technology that has evolved over the years. There are several categories of search engine software: Web search engines , database or structured data search engines , and mixed search engines or enterprise search...
, or data analytics. - Information hosting for attorney and expert document review, commenting, redactionRedactionRedaction is a form of editing in which multiple source texts are combined and subjected to minor alteration to make them into a single work. Often this is a method of collecting a series of writings on a similar theme and creating a definitive and coherent work...
. - Produce documents to parties in the case.
- Reuse information in future cases.
Early case assessment software is typically used by attorneys, corporate legal departments, risk managers, forensics teams, IT professionals and independent consultants to help them analyze unstructured electronically stored information.
The software approach to early case assessment typically includes the following:
- Determine the source files to analyze.
- Point the analysis tool to the files to be analyzed.
- Set parameters for the assessment.
- Allow the program to automatically scan and assess the data, which may be located on local hard drives, removable media, file servers, whole networks, etc.)
- Review reports generated by the software.
See also
- Legal holdLegal holdA legal hold is a process which an organization uses to preserve all forms of relevant information when litigation is reasonably anticipated....
- Discovery (law)Discovery (law)In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...
- Electronic DiscoveryElectronic DiscoveryElectronic discovery refers to discovery in civil litigation which deals with the exchange of information in electronic format . Usually a digital forensics analysis is performed to recover evidence...