Meribeth Banaschik is a US attorney at Noerr LLP in Düsseldorf, Germany. She is also qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, so she has a wider range of qualifications than most.
I interviewed her at kCura’s Relativity Fest in Chicago, asking her about her experience in setting up in-house eDiscovery teams. The interview is below.
The ambition, Meribeth said, was to turn a cost centre into a profit centre. After analysing the steps in the typical discovery process, including vendor selection and project management, and by taking small steps, the team developed an in-house legal hold expertise, as well as processes for collections, early case assessment and other stages.
It is not just large organisations with much litigation who could benefit from this, Meribeth Banaschik says. Mid-sized organisations can also benefit, not only for disputes work but for contract management, compliance or audit. The skill set, she says, is much the same.
kCura’s staff were extremely helpful in the early stages of the project, Meribeth says, helping through “complicated times” and giving confidence to those building the process.