What eDiscovery actually is, stage by stage
eDiscovery is the lifecycle for finding, preserving, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information, with legal duties and operational handoffs shaping each stage.
eDiscovery · Legal data · Review technology
The same document, three ways of looking at it.
Keyword search, concept search and privilege review disagree about what matters in a collection — and the disagreement is where cost, risk and sanctions live. Plain explanations of the rules, the orders and the technology, written for whoever has to approve the spend and defend the method later.
From: Operations — Re: Q3 supplier terms
Following the call, I have attached the revised pricing sheet. The team is comfortable with the volume discount but wants the floor price held until the audit closes.
Legal should look at clause 7 before we send anything to the distributor.
Where to start
Four guides that explain the rest
Read in this order they cover what eDiscovery is, what the software does, how the technology is judged by courts, and what any of it costs.
eDiscovery software: what you are actually buying
An eDiscovery platform combines a processing engine, a review interface, and hosting or managed services, and each layer carries different costs, controls, and switching risks.
TAR, predictive coding and CAL: what the courts have actually said
Federal cases establish that TAR is generally permitted in appropriate matters, while defensibility turns on a documented review workflow rather than the algorithm alone.
How eDiscovery is priced, and why nobody can quote you a number
eDiscovery pricing cannot be compared honestly without a shared data profile, a common pricing unit, and a worked example of the processing, review, hosting, and production…
The library
37 guides, in five sections
Fundamentals
4 guides
What eDiscovery is, how the process runs, and where the obligations come from.
Buying
11 guides
Choosing software, services and vendors — and reading a quote critically.
Technology
5 guides
Search, technology-assisted review and the machine learning underneath the marketing.
Process
10 guides
Holds, review, privilege and production: how the work is actually run.
Platforms
7 guides
What specific tools do, described from their own documentation.
Latest
Recently published
The contract repository: making executed agreements findable and usable
A contract repository turns executed agreements into structured, maintained records that support renewal decisions, obligation tracking, diligence, and defensible discovery collections.
AI for lawyers: separating the four things being sold
A practical taxonomy distinguishes retrieval and drafting assistants, legal research tools, contract analysis products, and discovery classification systems by their distinct controls.
Deposition transcripts and summaries: managing testimony as data
A practical framework for managing deposition transcripts, reviewing testimony across custodians, and verifying summaries before they become part of the litigation record.
Choosing a review platform: four buying postures, not four products
A vendor-neutral framework compares eDiscovery platforms by operating model, evidentiary controls, workflow fit, administration, and exit terms without ranking products or claiming hands-on testing.
Depositions: what they are, who can be deposed, and how they are used
A deposition is sworn, out-of-court testimony taken on the record before trial; Rule 30(b)(6) lets a party depose an organization, whose designee speaks for it rather than for themselves.
Document review: how the largest line item is actually run
A defensible document-review operation combines disciplined batching, targeted review levers, measurable quality control, and clear instructions that resolve disputes before production.