More Project Management in E-Discovery

The August 2008 Newsletter from the Association of Litigation Support Professionals (ALSP) discusses several aspects of project management involved in e-discovery projects and litigation support.

Just a few posts back, I linked to a great column on Slaw.ca that emphasized the importance of project management in e-discovery. Perhaps the legal world is finally realizing that it takes a lot of significant resources to plan and manage a successful e-discovery project. Project management isn’t just simply "good planning," it’s a technical discipline that has it’s own certification process.

First up, Caroline Sweeney from Dorsey & Whitney LLP authors "Project Management in Document Review" and lays down some excellent bullet points for better managing document review projects:

The first step in any project is to define the scope and associated timeline. The scope and timeline can always be refined, but starting with a series of assumptions allows for development of a solid project scope definition.

Sweeney also discusses the benefits of a formal training program, daily monitoring exercises, and quality control checks.

Next, Barbara Bennett from Dickinson Wright PLLC writes "Customized Software: A Helpful Tool for Tracking and Managing Litigation Support Projects" to describe how her firm is utilizing Microsoft SharePoint to track the details of their internal e-discovery projects including:

• vendor information
• media tracking
• custodian information
• costs
• data collection forms

Lastly, Michael Potters of the Glenmont Group shares some compelling reasons why project managers are highly sought after for today’s e-discovery endeavors in "Rx for Success: Top Quality Project Managers."

Link to PDF version of newsletter.