Thanks to the drastic increase in ESI (electronically stored information) in recent years there have been radical changes in law processes and first level document review has been estimated to account for between 60% and 90% of all litigation costs. As a result, law firms are always on the lookout for ways and means of reducing these costs. That’s where legal process outsourcing (LPO) comes handy in a big way.

As the term suggests, documents must first be reviewed to establish whether they are “non-responsive” or “responsive” with regard to a particular case. First level document review is carried out after receiving and before producing any documents following any legal application for their production. It prepares the grounds for a more senior review.

The documents must be reviewed to determine whether they are applicable to the case in question, are confidential and protected and whether they are crucial or significant to the case in question. Besides litigation cases, documents are also reviewed for corporate due diligence and regulatory compliance.

Although ESI is a major part of the problem it is practically free and so the lion’s share of data is being stored electronically. The time and costs related to first level document review then rise proportionately to the ESI.
And though the war rooms of previous years have been left behind and computer technology has taken over, it still remains that even after carrying out e-discovery best practices, the data may still be far too much to be easily reviewed and will eat into time and resources.

This is where outsourcing to countries like India that have a sizeable and capable workforce could be a solution. With English being the language of instruction in law schools, India has one of the largest numbers of English speaking lawyers in the world. Besides, its legal system is based on English common law and legal understandings and analyses are therefore applicable and adaptable. Thus there will always be a steady and dependable panel of highly trained persons working at a fraction of the cost in the United States. And the difference in time zones also allows for speedier, overnight reviews.

Put together, all this makes a case for increasing efficiencies in legal institutions by outsourcing first level document review.