Using eDiscovery in the Food Industry

You should research and determine which platform best fit your needs, keeping in mind that you want to keep the process as simple and streamlined as possible. There is a risk, however small, of data being compromised as it moves from platform to platform. Of course, managing the data also requires time and personnel. As you research options, consider platforms that include a data repository, which securely stores data that has already undergone legal review so that it can be reused in subsequent legal matters. This will reduce your overall cost.

3. Incorporate AI and Machine Learning Technologies

Some of the most powerful tools you can employ in eDiscovery are the various machine learning or artificial intelligence tools, often called technology-assisted review (TAR). TAR makes it possible to quickly examine large amounts of data to uncover relevant information, enabling human reviewers to easily identify similarities and trends. The newest TAR options now eliminate the need for an initial review set, allow rolling uploads of data, and find pertinent documents more quickly and accurately than any other approach.

TAR has become a customary element of the managed review process offered by many eDiscovery providers today. Almost any case can benefit from using some level of TAR, although, depending on the type of data that’s been collected, you might opt for a particular tool or suite of tools. For instance, a data set that has a high number of Excel files might need to be handled a different way than a set that’s mostly emails or Word documents. As you plan for potential legal matters down the road, talk to an eDiscovery expert about how TAR can best help your particular situation.

4. Leverage Your Legal Spend across Matters

As mentioned above, one benefit of incorporating eDiscovery into your day-to-day business operations is that you won’t have to start from zero every time a legal matter comes up. If you’ve already collected and reviewed documents for one case, it’s only logical to securely archive the results for use in a future matter. This comprehensive approach of reusing work product (e.g., previous legal hold notices, data collections, and even document review) will help leverage your legal spend to the greatest extent possible and lower your overall costs.

You’ll want to regularly organize and archive new data as it’s created so that it’s easily accessible when the next legal matter arises. As a company following that process, you’ll gain an incredibly valuable side benefit as well; in examining the collected data for patterns and trends, you can recognize areas for improvement and build upon established strengths. By archiving data that has gone through attorney review, for instance, you can help maintain a high level of quality in your review efforts across past and future cases.

All of these steps are reasons why it’s advisable to choose a single, comprehensive eDiscovery platform to handle all your cases. In an industry where litigation is a certainty, it doesn’t make good business sense to treat data collection and eDiscovery as an afterthought. By establishing a predictable, repeatable model for data collection and review, food manufacturing companies can greatly reduce the uncertainty of the process and improve their chances of presenting a complete and accurate case when future legal matters occur.

Schrader is president and CEO of BIA. Reach him at [email protected].