eDiscovery provider Epiq Systems seems to be popping up all over the place at the moment. Grouping the various sources together has the benefit, for me as well as for them, that those new to this subject can see how many eDiscovery corners are touched by a major player in the eDiscovery / eDisclosure market. This is not just a technology matter – services, processes and thought-leadership all contribute to tackling a business problem which is not going away.

I have already written about Epiq’s Q2 results which showed Epiq’s eDiscovery segment contributing $42.7 million to its record operating revenue for the quarter. My post reported Epiq’s expectation of “continued double-digit operating revenue growth for eDiscovery in the second half of the year”. The subsequent announcements covered here go some way towards justifying that optimism. I reported each of them briefly as they came along on Google+, but they are worth expansion.

Epiq opens Hong Kong Document Review Centre

Epiq has followed its recently-opened new document review facility in Washington (see Huron and Epiq expand managed review and legal staffing in Washington) with the creation of a similar review centre in Hong Kong.

The press release is here. It quotes Laura Kibbe, Epiq Systems’ Managing Director of Document Review and Expert Services as referring to the provision of “secure, scalable, cost effective review and staffing services wherever they are needed,” and to Epiq’s enanced ability to manage review teams in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously.

Why should companies need such a service? Why, perhaps more pertinently, is it of interest to lawyers who have historically made money from document review?

I cannot really improve on the answer set out in the press release:

• Customised pricing based on case requirements
• The ability to work on any technology platform and provide consistent reports across all cases
• Highly-skilled reviewers with local language skills
• Daily reporting with graphical analysis to show project progress and coding breakdown
• Collaboration with law firm or corporate client on quality control processes
• Accurate and scalable eDiscovery process with defensible documentation
• Coordinated management of multi-jurisdictional review teams

Well, corporate client – is your law firm offering any of this? And you law firms, if services like this are available, should you not at least be in a position to compare them with your own service offerings?

What you really need, of course, is a business model which can provide both the technology and the services such as managed review – which brings me on to my next subject….

Epiq Systems offer Equivio Zoom

My first sight of Equivio’s tools for eliminating redundant discovery data was at a demonstration of Epiq’s DocuMatrix review application. Epiq was an early adopter of Equivio’s e-mail threading and near duplicate technology, building it into their workflows to speed up the reduction of unwanted data and to group similar documents together for efficient review. Epiq went on to incorporate Equivio’s Relevance predictive coding application into their software and services offering called IQ Review.

Since the beginning of this year, Equivio themselves have bundled their three primary tools into a single application called Zoom. Consistent with their commitment to bringing the best technology to their clients, Epiq is now offering Equivio Zoom. The press release is here.

eDJ interview with Epiq – Tangible Examples of Technology-Assisted Review

There is quite a lot here for lawyers to get their heads around when companies like Epiq are offering both human review services and the latest technology. How does this all work in practice, and what are the implications  for working practices and defensibility? What do the clients think of it?

eDiscovery Journal has been covering the development of technology-assisted review on all these fronts, most recently in an article by Barry Murphy of 7 August called Tangible Examples of TAR.

He interviewed Mary Ann Benson, Director of Consulting Services at Epiq, choosing her largely because Epiq has been involved in approximately 60 engagements that have used the technology.

The resulting article includes a brisk summary of what the technology involves and the conclusion that, whilst many of Epiq’s clients have been conservative in using predictive coding to determine relevance, the benefits of prioritisation (with the implication that the most important documents are seen quickly and by appropriately qualified people) is proving attractive. How could it not?

Judicial panel in London

To round off this summary of Epiq’s advances in the use of technology-assisted review, I point you again to the recent instructive panel which Epiq organised in London at which US Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck, Senior Master Whitaker, Robert Lewis of Barclays and barrister Shantanu Majumdar talked about the subject. My article about it is here and there is a direct link to a video of the session here.

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