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DIY Ediscovery Platform Adds a Cost Recovery Tool for Billing Clients
October 3, 2019
Today's TechnoLawyer Buyer's Guide report covers cloud-based ediscovery software with new do-it-yourself processing and production wizards that eliminate the need for consultants, and a new companion application for cost recovery.
Popular Do-It-Yourself Ediscovery Platform Adds a Cost Recovery Tool for Billing Clients
Electronically stored information (ESI) now plays a central role in seemingly every new scandal. This leaching into pop culture underscores the importance of ediscovery in litigation today and represents fertile ground for law firms seeking growth opportunities. Law firms that master ediscovery can save their clients money and even profit directly from this work.
Digital WarRoom Private Cloud 9.1 in One Sentence
Digital WarRoom Private Cloud 9.1, a cloud-based ediscovery platform known for its all-inclusive subscription pricing, recently launched a companion Management Console for cost recovery.
The Killer Feature
Digital WarRoom starts at $250/month for 25 GB across one matter ($10/GB thereafter), or $2,000/month for 500 GB across unlimited matters ($1/GB thereafter). According to Digital WarRoom CFO Bill Gallivan, this flexible pricing differs from competing solutions, enabling law firms to reduce costs for clients and grow their practice (see case study).
The new Management Console (a separate application) provides the information required for cost recovery and billing. "It shows you relevant metrics across all hosted matters in a single integrated view," says Gallivan. "You can either obtain split invoicing from Digital WarRoom or export load files for importing into any legal billing or accounting system."
You can view both historical and real-time data for each matter, including the work your firm performed by billing code. The Management Console exports this data in standard file formats, including Excel, CSV, and QuickBooks (IIF).
Other Notable Features
Digital WarRoom's document review tools offer desktop versatility in a cloud environment.
Digital WarRoom is a multiuser Windows application that runs in the cloud. This translates into speed and a virtual desktop for file management and even email (you can limit users to only the document review tools and hide this virtual desktop). Large processing jobs don't slow you down because they're offloaded to Hyper-V servers. "This provides superior on-demand-performance for large data set operations," says Gallivan. Digital WarRoom owns and manages this private cloud environment. There's no Port 80 access (the public Internet) and you can require all users to login using two-factor authentication.
Among the new user-facing features, the Processing and Production Settings Wizards make imports and exports easier. "It's like having a consultant," says Gallivan. These wizards are nondestructive. For example, you can tweak settings such as de-duplication, key words, and file types in the Processing Settings Wizard to change review sets on the fly. You'll also find improved organizational tools for imported ESI. Previously, you could only organize ESI by Custodian. Now you can organize it by Collection. The Production Settings Wizard includes a variety of options for Bates numbers such as color, location, and sequence (by custodian or any other parameter).
Digital WarRoom enables you to customize the review environment. Flags make it easy to spot potentially privileged documents. The Who-to-Whom table maps the email sent to and from key players in the case, enabling you to find patterns and focus on particular messages. Excel-like sorting using multiple parameters offers yet another way to find documents of interest. You can tag multiple documents with one or more issues simultaneously instead of plodding along one at a time.
"These improvements in version 9.2 position Digital WarRoom as the best preservation, collection, and review tool in the industry," says Gallivan.
What Else Should You Know?
Gallivan wants to your firm to do as much ediscovery on your own as possible. However, Digital WarRoom offers consulting services for challenging issues that arise such as a tight production deadline, password-protected PDF files, and identifying key documents in large datasets using Gist, the company's artificial intelligence technology.
Neil J. Squillante is the founder and publisher of TechnoLawyer, an award-winning network of free email newsletters for lawyers and law office administrators. Many consider TechnoLawyer newsletters the only ones they need. A Fastcase 50 award winner, Neil has a long track record of inventing successful advertising and publishing technologies and related best practices. Previously, Neil practiced commercial litigation at Am Law 100 firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law and his B.A. from Duke University. At UCLA, Neil served as a Managing Editor of UCLA Law Review.
