State-of-the-art software to simplify electronic legal data tracking, tracing and monitoring Companies create exponentially more new digital data every year because of digitalisation, while new regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require them to manage data correctly. As a result, legal professionals handling cases that demand electronically stored information waste significant time and money. Digital Economy Society © Panchenko Vladimir, Shutterstock eDiscovery, the process of collecting, reviewing and producing electronically stored information in response to a lawsuit or investigation request, is growing rapidly in size with digitalisation. As a result, costs exceed legal budgets in most large organisations today, forcing them to act now to find affordable but efficient solutions to manage the challenge and stay compliant with GDPR. Getting more, faster feedback on legal cases The EU-funded eDCaseMAN project introduced a dynamic evidence management software solution to provide companies’ legal teams with an early and accurate overview of relevant case information. This enables them to make decisions on whether to settle or go to trial based on the merits of the case, rather than on the expense of discovery. eDCaseMAN provides early cost predictability such as early data analysis, thus considerably lowering the eDiscovery cost. The ability to track and trace every task throughout the evidence chain provides compliance and defensibility. It also makes legal teams more efficient while preventing unnecessary human error. Overall, the aim was to “empower lawyers to make faster informed decisions by delivering the most valuable and recent information via live dashboards that can be accessed from anywhere and anytime,” says coordinator Johnny Petersen. “Quicker and more knowledgeable decisions will allow lawyers to know the projected legal spending before starting to devote large amounts of money while also staying compliant.” Solving eDiscovery challenges, managing businesses smarter The understanding of eDiscovery and how it’s executed in each organisation varies greatly, even though there’s a globally accepted reference model called Electronic Discovery Reference Model (ERDM) available on how to do it. ERDM is the established and accepted framework for eDiscovery practitioners. eDCaseMAN educated the market on what exactly eDiscovery involves, and on how service providers can improve customer service and clients can save costs and be more defensible during their legal cases. “This was largely successful as we’ve been able to pick up several global partners and are negotiating proof of concept with end clients,” Petersen adds. “Furthermore, our advisory board has been extended with veterans from the industry supporting us in our mission to not only improve eDiscovery, but to also change it from an expensive activity to one that empowers the lawyer to make informed legal decisions.” According to Petersen, eDCaseMAN has completed an early release of the software with sufficient features. The product is currently being tested by several large legal service organisations that are showcasing it to their existing customer base. “The eDCaseMAN software solution will radically change how lawyers tackle legal cases involving electronic data discovery by instantly getting feedback so that they make the right decisions on whether to pursue or settle,” he concludes. “As the first in the market, we offer an affordable software product enabling organisations of all sizes to easily manage any litigation or internal investigation while conforming to GDPR.” Keywords eDCaseMAN, eDiscovery, data, lawyer, legal cases, Electronic Discovery Reference Model (ERDM), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
