Have You Leveraged eDiscovery Tech To Build Hybrid Legal Teams?

11 January 2023 by Anith eDiscovery tech

Takeaway: The best eDiscovery tech can simplify a newly-formed hybrid team’s workflows. You’ll be able to automate tasks, collaborate in real time, track progress through smart analytics, and protect data using zero-trust security. And the right application can do all this for as low as $27 a month.

The last few years have created a new demand for hybrid legal teams.

The challenges of 2020 forced law firms to solve the problem of employees working from home, often with different schedules. It’s what created the ‘hybrid team,’ with some members working remotely and others working at the office. Importantly, the change seems permanent, with firms sometimes onboarding new employees who’ve never met their teams in real life.

This forces law firms to innovate new workflows.

Hybrid teams are much more flexible than office-based teams but come with challenges. For instance, how do you keep morale up when team members don’t meet often? And how do junior attorneys get quality time with their mentors? Adapting to these challenges means creating new processes and workflows. Firms must ensure their associates and staff get the flexibility they need without sacrificing the connectedness and collaboration of office life.

Here’s where the right tech can be a game-changer.

Law firms that survived and thrived did so by adopting the right technology. Technology that automates grunt work and shifts the focus from teams sharing ‘knowledge’ to sharing ‘intelligence.’ I.e., Instead of building data siloes that everyone ignores, game-changing tech supports teams using data and systems to get things done. It helps them define their problems and offers tools to collaborate and find solutions. Sometimes, this might mean using advanced tech like artificial intelligence and machine learning. But more often, it simply means using well-designed software that simplifies everyday challenges.

Take eDiscovery, for example, which involves reviewing massive amounts of data.

eDiscovery (i.e. electronic discovery) perfectly showcases how valuable tech can be because it demands efficiency. It involves so much electronically stored information like PDFs, emails, and spreadsheets that it would be impossible to plow through it all using brute force. Instead, we must find patterns in the data and target a select few high-yield files. And this requires fine-tuning our review systems to be as efficient as possible.

The best eDiscovery applications automate repetitive tasks.

One of the challenges with eDiscovery is converting paper documents into digital files. Sure, you can scan these documents, but that’s essentially just photographing them. It’s not enough to make their text ‘machine-readable.’ So, ordinarily, you’d have to run each scanned document through separate optical character recognition (OCR) software, converting text images into script your software can read and search. Instead, the latest eDiscovery applications come with inbuilt OCR, meaning that the process is automatic with any scanned documents you upload. And this saves so much time!

Next-generation eDiscovery applications also offer real-time collaboration.

With real-time collaboration, eDiscovery teams can work on different parts of a case simultaneously and track each other’s work. For instance, you’ll be able to create part of an advanced search (with multiple conditions and operators) and save it for a teammate to work on later. (Learn more about how eDiscovery search engines work.) Similarly, when reviewing files, you’ll be able to leave notes, annotations, and comments to add context to your review. For example, if you tag a document as being ‘privileged,’ you’ll be able to leave a tag note explaining why. Or, if you want to comment on a particular note, you can use an in-app comments feature instead of switching to email and flooding someone’s inbox. Also, there’s in-app sharing, where you share productions using a clickable link instead of downloading and emailing them. That way, you can invalidate the link at any point, locking out the recipient.

Another huge advantage of good tech is smart analytics.

Smart analytics offer a brief case overview that helps teams coordinate their activities. For instance, you’ll be able to see how many files you’re all working on, their relative proportions (PDFs vs emails vs Word docs, etc.), which files weren’t processed properly, which tags are the most popular, connections between file families, and more. (Learn more about smart analytics.)

Finally, the right eDiscovery software keeps your data safe.

The latest eDiscovery applications use a zero-trust approach to data security. I.e., they don’t ask for a one-time password that gives you limitless access to all data. Rather, they limit who can access what, with multiple checks along the way. For example, they’ll use multi-factor authentication to sign you into the app but will also have user permissions limiting what you can do once you’re in. (E.g., certain users will be allowed to add/delete files while others can only review – not modify – case data). This ‘granular’ approach to security protects your data from both direct attacks (like viruses) and indirect ones (like phishing). Learn more about zero-trust security.

To explore how eDiscovery software can help power hybrid teams, try GoldFynch.

GoldFynch is an affordable eDiscovery service designed for small and midsize firms. It’s stocked with essential eDiscovery tools and some bonus features. For instance:

It costs just $27 a month for a 3 GB case: That’s significantly less than most comparable software. With GoldFynch, you know exactly what you’re paying for: its pricing is simple and readily available on the website.
It’s easy to budget for. GoldFynch charges only for storage (processing files is free). So, choose from a range of plans (3 GB to 150+ GB) and know up-front how much you’ll be paying. You can upload and cull as much data as you want, as long as you stay below your storage limit. And even if you do cross the limit, you can upgrade your plan with just a few clicks. Also, billing is prorated – so you’ll pay only for the time you spend on any given plan. With legacy software, pricing is much less predictable.
It takes just minutes to get going. GoldFynch runs in the Cloud, so you use it through your web browser (Google Chrome recommended). No installation. No sales calls or emails. Plus, you get a free trial case (0.5 GB of data and a processing cap of 1 GB) without adding a credit card.
It’s simple to use. Many eDiscovery applications take hours to master. GoldFynch takes minutes. It handles a lot of complex processing in the background, but what you see is minimal and intuitive. Just drag-and-drop your files into GoldFynch, and you’re good to go. Plus, you get prompt and reliable tech support (our average response time is 30 minutes).
Access it from anywhere, and 24/7. All your files are backed up and secure in the Cloud.

Want to find out more about GoldFynch?

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