TIBURON WHITE PAPER

How Innovation is Shaking Up the Traditional Legal Document Review Process

Law firms today operate in a dynamic, competitive and unpredictable environment with This white paper will discuss how clients demanding more value for their budgeted expenditures. The changing landscape law and managed document review requires practice managers to develop new ways of thinking and acting. Nevertheless, firms can use digital technologies to many still rely on existing processes that consume a large amount of a lawyer’s time. This basic model proved to be very worthwhile for decades but now must be called into create a cloud-based review center question in the face of technology that improves efficiency and lowers costs, which has and reap all of the advantages been brought to bear on countless industries. inherent in using remote document review attorneys. The traditional legal document review process is one area that is ripe for disruption. It’s a high volume and low value discipline that involves expensive overhead costs by law firms and a significant time commitment from the professionals they employ. With the increasing prominence of allowing employees to work remotely, the legal industry has been slow to adapt due to confidentiality concerns related to the documents being reviewed, as well as accountability concerns related to the oversight of document review attorneys working remotely.

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com The Issues with Legal Document Review Today

Document review is often the most labor-intensive and expensive stage of the litigation process. On a daily basis, a document reviewer may examine hundreds of sundry documents, such as memos, letters, e-mails, PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, and other e-documents, to determine whether the information should be turned over to an opposing party in response to a discovery request.1

Due to advances in technology, most documents reside in computer databases in electronic form. Therefore, document reviewers no longer manually sift through paper documents but spend most of their days in front of a computer screen. With the advent of e-discovery, electronic data is now subject to discovery, expanding the scope of the document reviewer’s role.2

There are many issues that make employing reviewers to code large quantities of documents consistently and correctly in order to provide high-quality legal document review services at an affordable price difficult.

These include the following:

CONFIDENTIALITY Because lawyers are responsible for both executing confidentiality and abiding by the evidence-based attorney-client privilege, there’s no room for error in the legal document review process.3 Reviewers can be responsible for handling a wide range of classified client information, including departed employee computer files, business projections and supplier information. The level of confidentiality a client requests is largely dependent on the subject matter, with the highest level of client-confidentiality typically including information that’s potentially damaging to their reputation. Due to these sensitivities, reviewers not only sign NDAs, they are required to take extra precautions for confidentiality. Despite these restrictions, legal document reviewers are often lax on their obligations and use devices or other methods to share information that violate their confidentiality agreements, potentially causing irreparable monetary and reputational damage to their employers.

EFFICIENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY The difference between a thriving law firm and a law firm that fails can come down to one thing: efficiency.4 Legal document reviewers are generally under the honor system for how long they work, which means they must be self-disciplined for maintaining diligence and accountability.

Clients often closely weigh billed hours against value gained and question the invoices they receive based upon this simple metric. For professionals, where tracking billable hours is critical and can be challenged in court, it’s important to carefully manage timekeeping, work output, and the results to give credibility to invoicing and client engagement.

Among the obstacles for the widespread use of remote document review are the overall challenges for managing a remote workforce. When remote document reviewers are distracted at work and don’t effectively engage in the work at-hand, firms are faced with defending hours billed.

To manage reviewer engagement and the quality of reviewer work-product, document review teams use system analytics to measure database activities, like login time, documents opened and document coding. Additional attorneys perform second pass document review sampling as part of quality control processes that are used to provide additional information on the activities of document reviewers.

Analytics of database activity and quality control processes represent cost spent to indirectly verify attorneys are adhering to remote document review work policies in the first place. Database measurement is limited, since it doesn’t directly reveal if remote document reviewers are distracted by activities like cell phone use, talking to others, if other applications are being used in parallel, or who is actually accessing the document database.

1 Kane, Sally. “What Does a Document Reviewer Do?” TheBalanceCareers.com, Updated April 15, 2019 2 Ibid. 3 Professor Giesel, Grace, M. “Difference Between Confidentiality and Attorney-Client Privilege.” Lawyerist.com, March 28, 2019 4 “Efficiency Killers in Your Law Firm.”Law Technology Today, December 7, 2016

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com PHYSICAL OFFICE CAPACITY The legal document review market is highly competitive. As a result, law firms have struggled with balancing the need to keep the costs to clients as low as possible while providing a quality service. Most document review work is done at a brick and mortar location such as a law firm office, a corporation, or the site of a third-party managed document review provider.5

A document-review assignment can last almost any duration of time, from three weeks to three months or longer.6 One week might require an office space with extra capacity, and the next might require little more than a small room. Housing a large number of reviewers over an extended period of time or leasing additional capacity and IT infrastructure that’s not consistently utilized can add a fixed cost that is a drag on the bottom line.

Situations arise where firms have the opportunity to perform more work for clients but are hesitant to add leased building capacity because of the inconsistent nature of the work. Previously, the only option was to outsource the work; however, if a remote work force is viable, it opens up additional options.

DOCUMENT REVIEW ATTORNEY RETENTION Adding to the burden of maintaining expensive physical office capacity, document review attorneys are paid for their review of documents, not for their commutes each day to-and-from facilities. Commuting not only costs them dollars, but time spent that is lost instead of earning income.

Elimination of commute time and fuel consumption from the workday has wide implications. Moving office- based work to remote office work even a few days a week can have significant value for workforce retention, reduction of environmental impact and community traffic congestion.

Remote work is most attractive to document reviewers when they are able to control the daily work schedules, access work immediately and during all hours of the day and are able to maximize their work output while maintaining work life balance.

SKILL SHORTAGES NEARBY To minimize cost, contract attorneys or paralegals are often employed for legal document review. In high-demand markets such as Washington D.C., New York, or , the availability of skilled document reviewers is severely constrained. For any document review position, solo practitioners looking for extra income or new law school graduates who have not yet secured permanent employment are among the most frequent applicants.7 These types of workers often live in low-cost rural areas and have difficulty commuting to a central urban location each day or are unwilling to do so due to the high cost of commuting. This is especially true when factors like inclement weather and poor parking availability come into question. Document reviewers with special skills such as foreign language, or expertise in specific areas such as the oil and gas industry or patent litigation, are also often required yet hard to find.

COST The legal document review market is highly competitive with low-cost labor markets participating. As a result, law firms have struggled with balancing the need to keep the costs to clients as low as possible while providing a quality service. Some firms contract a large swath of the business to document review providers, often headlined by large multinational consulting firms.8 The alternative is to use firm-branded associates to sit in front of a computer and sift through documents for 8 to 12 hours a day with all of the associated fixed overhead costs including office space, IT infrastructure, electricity and administrative support, that increase with the rate of inflation. The average fixed costs of a brick and mortar location in the U.S. averages a staggering $26,423 per staff member per year. (source Verificient Inc., market study).

5 Evans, Brett. “Doing Document Review Right.” Above the Law, December 3, 2018 6 Ibid. 7 Hayashi, Emiko. “Should You Take a Document Review Job?” ABA Group online 8 Evans, Brett. “Doing Document Review Right.” Above the Law, December 3, 2018

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com The Solution: Remotedesk Cloud Review CenterSM Technology

Digital remote identity authentication It becomes easy to imagine why digital document reviewers prefer a workplace that begins and and technology that verifies document ends in the home — wherever home might be. Instead of a long commute to a remote office reviewer identity and compliance with building, it’s a short walk with a freshly brewed cup of coffee down a hallway. It becomes even more convenient in the winter or, better yet, from a home away from home in a warmer climate. remote work policies is available today. Firms bear the cost value of attorney commutes in the overall cost they pay document review Using available remote workforce attorneys as well as the cost of staffing, retaining and engaging with these contract attorneys. proctoring technology allows law firms and managed review providers The ability to work remotely in a Remotedesk cloud review center is also ideal for those with to create a virtual cloud-based physical limitations, or who need to work in rural areas or with flexible hours to balance “legal document review center”. It child care schedules. The added flexibility remote workers gain means new document review enables firms to more confidently projects can be taken on immediately without concern for the cost or time of commuting. With home office seclusion and a high-speed internet connection, geographic and time boundaries engage remote document reviewers disappear, so do the worker commutes. The environmental impact of commuting and urban with the ability to work anytime, traffic congestion, issues that are gaining attention across the planet, become a collateral anywhere, while helping maintain benefit since the reviewer can complete his work from home. e-discovery confidentiality, quality, cost predictability and time management. Additionally, allowing more legal work to be done remotely in a cloud-based legal document review center leads to thousands of dollars in savings while increasing flexibility for firms. As illustrated in Figure 1, the costs factors of working in traditional environments for both firms and document reviewers continue to rise, while the costs for Remotedesk cloud review center technology is predicted to decline as its use scales.

FIGURE 1: The annual per person costs of maintaining a physical office for legal document review in , adjusted 5% per year for inflation.

SOURCE: VERIFICIENT TECHNOLOGY MARKET STUDY*

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com As illustrated in Figure 2, the annual fixed costs savings opportunity for law firms using the Remotedesk cloud review center technology was $15,100 per person in 2018 and is projected to rise to an astounding $23,890 annually per person, in just four short years. Additionally, attorneys and legal professionals who are enabled to work remotely realize significant time value and cost avoidance that helps motivate their engagement and enhance retention. Bicoastal Legal, a legal staffing company and client, has realized 15% lower costs and faster staffing times as a result of the benefits to contract attorneys. In addition, Bicoastal avoids the fixed costs of a physical review center by operating exclusively as a cloud-based review center.

Results

Bicoastal Legal, a legal staffing company and TCP client, has avoided all of the above fixed costs estimated at $23,415 per contract attorney engaged achieved by operating the Remotedesk cloud review center instead of a physical review center. In addition to the fixed cost avoidance, Bicoastal has realized 15% lower total cost of engaging with contract attorneys and faster staffing times as a result of the Remotedesk cloud review center benefits to contract attorneys.

In response to a client’s need to engage a geographically dispersed team of document review lawyers for a complicated class action, Bicoastal Legal worked with TCP and partnered with Verificient Technologies’ to create a unique cloud review center experience for the legal industry. Verificient Technologies, Inc. is a Trusted Identity-as-a-Service (TIaaS) specializing in identity verification and authentication through its patented technologies utilizing AI, machine learning, computer visioning and biometrics. Remotedesk by Verificient is a leading remote workforce management solution for work-at-home compliance and security.

TCP, in collaboration with Verificient, customized and configured Remotedesk to ensure the workplace policy compliance of a large workforce of remote attorneys at Bicoastal was adhered to. The result was an increase. of productivity up to 20% while verifying client confidentiality and accountability policies. Bicoastal Legal optimized cybersecurity and reduced labor costs as well as prevented overbilling and underbilling with time-stamped billable hour reports. This applied use case of the Remotedesk cloud review center has proven to be especially relevant where cloud-based e-discovery, Virtual Desktop and other legal databases are accessed remotely.

FIGURE 2: Per employee cost breakdown of working in physical review center compared to the costs of a Cloud Review CenterSM.

SOURCE: VERIFICIENT TECHNOLOGY MARKET STUDY*

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com Avoided $23,415 of fixed costs annually per document review attorney engaged

Lowered contract attorney costs by 15% while maintaining quality and results

Conclusion

Not only do law firms benefit TCP offers its clients the ability to create cloud review centers for legal document review as a stand-alone software-as-a-service offering, or clients can pair it with a from lower costs per reviewer, highly available pool of experienced document review attorneys who work in the cloud they also gain broader access review center from its partner, Bicoastal Legal. In either case, legal document review to the overall labor market. providers can now tap into the best talent from across the country who are no longer limited by their geographic location. Remotedesk Cloud review center technology allows firms Once just a pipe dream, the ability to staff and efficiently manage heavy, document- to engage reviewers in lower driven legal cases with a high degree of quality control without requiring a large investment, is now possible through the use of cloud review center technology that cost labor markets, rather than exists today. Allowing more legal work to be done remotely saves both time and cost for limiting staffing to the review the client. It’s welcomed by attorneys who long to be untethered by a physical location, attorneys in their city. and it’s ideal for attorneys with physical limitations, attorneys who need to work in rural areas or require flexibility in their schedules due personal circumstances. The adoption of technology that creates a means for reliable and proven remote document review becomes a winning proposition for everyone involved, even Mother Earth.9

9 Klier, Dan. “Remote Tech: Innovative Solution for Legal Document Review.” InBusiness, February, 2019

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com About Tiburon Cloud Partners

For companies who would benefit from a remote workforce, Tiburon Cloud Partners is a technology-based solutions company. The company offers a proven software-as-a-service platform to directly verify remote workforce adherence to remote workplace policies, thus creating a cloud review center. Unlike database-only solutions operated in brick and mortar environments, Tiburon uses continuous cloud review center technology to give legal professionals the ability to work anywhere, anytime, while ensuring confidentiality and productivity.

For more information, please visit TiburonCloud.com

[email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405 TiburonCloud.com TiburonCloud.com [email protected] +1 (602) 295-7405

* THE FOLLOWING SOURCES WERE USED TO COMPILE THE VERIFICIENT INC. MARKET STUDY:

Dallas Business Journal staff, named No. 2 most expensive commute in the country, Houston Business Journal, December 7, 2018

Jeff Desjardins, Visualizing the Average Commute Time in U.S. States and Cities, VisualCapitalist.com, April 1, 2018

Sally French, Here’s how much your company pays to rent office space, MarketWatch.com, May 27, 2015

Shelly Hagan, Wei Lu, The Most Expensive Commutes in America Aren’t in NYC or San Francisco, Bloomberg.com, February 28, 2019

Amelia Josephson, The Average Cost of an American Commute, SmartAsset.com, July 5, 2018

Alex Lauderdale, Here’s how much money you’ll spend and how many miles you’ll drive commuting in your lifetime (by city), EducatedDriver.org, December 3, 2018

Lucas Leão, How to Calculate your employee’s Cost with Overhead costs, e3seriescenters.com, June 16, 2016

Scott Mautz, A 2-Year Stanford Study Shows the Astonishing Productivity Boost of Working from Home, Inc.com

Computing Hourly Rates of Pay Using the 2,087-Hour Divisor, OPM.gov

Carlos Quintana, The true cost of employees: How much does an employee *really* cost? (US), BeeBole.com, November 29, 2018

Jon Whitely, Seattle and Honolulu Move up the Ranks of the Best Cities for Public Transit in 2018, Redfin.com, February 21, 2018