Defining the Role of Litigation Support

Technology and Process Support from Case Receipt to Post-Trial Archival

Hamilton- 2006/07

Objectives

Introduce you to the role of Litigation Support within a firm

Define what roles Litigation Support has within a firm

Understand the role your organization plays in your firm

Explain how Litigation Support provides value to a case team throughout each phase of the litigation

Review the role vendors play with respect to litigation support

Infrastructure Technology v. Litigation Support

Infrastructure Technology— Office Applications

Network Ops Email Document management Office Suite Time and Billing Software implementation for

infrastructure apps

Litigation Support — Legal Applications

Concordance Summation IPRO LiveNote Trial Director Litigator’s Notebook CaseMap/TimeMap Web Repositories Client-dictated software

Infrastructure Technology v. Litigation Support

Infrastructure Technology— Supports the “business” of running

a law firm

— Ensures security, failover, and disaster recovery are planned

— Supports departments such as: Accounting HR Web/Portal Administration

Litigation Support— Supports the process of preparing

to take a case to trial

— Ensures that discovery and production deadlines are planned and met

— Supports all litigation groups within a firm

— Can apply litigation technology to other practice groups

Common Goals for Litigation Support

Partner with attorney teams and share “best practices” recommendations for their cases from Day 1

Provide on-going training in the area of litigation technology to keep the firm current with industry trends

Match technology with case needs

Ensure that attorney teams can meet technology requests / demands from clients

Utilize vendors in a way that enables the firm to offer their clients quality services at the best price

Others?

General Litigation Support Staffing

Litigation Support Manager— Oversees all cases

— Hiring/staffing

— On-the-job Training

— Policies and procedures

— Talks with clients

Litigation Support Specialist— Day-to-day case work

— Load data

— Work with vendors

— Interact on case team

— Search/produce documents

— Maintain databases

Case Manager— Runs docketing software

— Maintains calendar of milestones for attorney team

— Keeps contacts current

— Trains docketing software

Trial Coordinator— Graphics support

— Trial site coordination

— Works with vendors

— Electronic opening/closing (PowerPoint)

— Trial presentation

Billing Practices

To bill or not to bill, that is the question!—Firm needs to decide if this role is to be a cost center or a profit center—Average billing rates

Lit Sup Mgr – $125 – 175 per hour Lit Sup Specialist – $95 – 125 per hour

—Need to consult your local ethics rules for guidance in this area—May need to set average billable hours goals for staff—Billing guidelines should be spelled out, mimic those of the paralegals,

and should be reviewed monthly

Providing Case Support

Case Initiation Support

Due Diligence Support

Discovery Support

Pre-Trial/Trial Support

Post-Trial Support Due Diligence

Discovery Support Tasks Analyze case needs and provide recommendations for software,

hardware, and database design for new cases

Maintain all recommended software and hardware and provide help desk support for internal and external users

Provide case-specific software support for client-dictated applications

Coordinate and manage vendors used for document processing

Provide document production support

Provide search and retrieval strategies for discovery databases

Pre-Trial Support Tasks

Coordinate technology for document production

Create case-specific searches and reports for deposition preparation

Maintain document, pleading, and transcript databases throughout case lifecycle

Evaluate trial needs and create visual strategy

Begin process of court/judge/opposing counsel research

Trial Support Tasks

Create opening/closing statements via PowerPoint or trial presentation software

Create static graphics for trial as either trial boards or to display via projector

Coordinate all courtroom setup including hardware, court reporter feeds, and war room

Assist in vendor selection and coordination as needed

Provide overall courtroom support during trial

Post-Trial Support Tasks

Archival of all case data

Copies of any/all database repositories for client files as appropriate

“Lessons Learned” for each case, learn from overall firm successes and challenges

Vendors and Litigation Support

Identify the stage of the litigation process where you need vendors as:

— Primary support Scanning EDD Data conversion

— Secondary support Production overflow Large volume scanning

Maintain a “preferred vendor” list that is more about the deliverable than it is about the give-aways

Educate the attorney team and paralegal team about how to select vendors if this is not a centralized mechanism at your firm

Evaluate vendor performance after a job is complete and provide feedback to both the attorney team and vendor on their performance (should be done for the good and the bad)

Questions??