eDiscovery guides
All 37 guides, grouped by section: fundamentals, buying, technology, process and platforms.
Each guide is written to stand on its own; the internal links point at whichever piece covers a topic in depth rather than repeating it.
Fundamentals#
What eDiscovery is, how the process runs, and where the obligations come from.
Depositions: what they are, who can be deposed, and how they are usedA 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…What eDiscovery actually is, stage by stageeDiscovery is the lifecycle for finding, preserving, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information, with legal duties and operational handoffs shaping each stage.Legal operations: what the function actually ownsLegal operations turns legal spending, technology, data, vendors, and staffing into a managed function that supports lawyers and business decision-makers.What litigation support does, and why the role keeps changingLitigation support is the people-and-processes function that manages the data and technology side of a dispute.
Buying#
Choosing software, services and vendors — and reading a quote critically.
Choosing a review platform: four buying postures, not four productsA vendor-neutral framework compares eDiscovery platforms by operating model, evidentiary controls, workflow fit, administration, and exit terms without ranking products or claiming…eDiscovery for law firms, including the small onesThis guide compares provider-led, hybrid, and in-house eDiscovery models for law firms and identifies the core competencies a firm must retain.Document review software: the features that actually change review qualityReviewer-facing document review software improves quality when it connects documents, families, coding, search, production, and audit trails within a single defensible workflow.How eDiscovery is priced, and why nobody can quote you a numbereDiscovery pricing cannot be compared honestly without a shared data profile, a common pricing unit, and a worked example of the processing,…eDiscovery services vs. software: which problem you are solvingThis guide compares licensed eDiscovery software, provider-operated matters, and managed services, then maps each model to staffing, control, security, and defensibility.eDiscovery software: what you are actually buyingAn eDiscovery platform combines a processing engine, a review interface, and hosting or managed services, and each layer carries different costs, controls,…eDiscovery platform comparison: what the pricing models revealPricing units provide the clearest published distinction among major eDiscovery platforms, but matter design, workflow, and exit requirements determine the practical comparison.Contract management for legal departments: the process before the softwareLegal contract management succeeds when legal defines intake, templates, approvals, records, and post-signature obligations before selecting software for the process.Legal hold software: what the category does, and how to evaluate itLegal hold software can automate notice, acknowledgment, and custodian tracking, but its preservation reach, integrations, and audit record determine whether it reduces…The legal operations tool stack, category by categoryA category-by-category map of legal operations technology shows what each system solves, where integrations determine value, and how to sequence purchases around…Managed document review services: what you are buying when you outsource reviewManaged review buys reviewer capacity, but its value depends on documented staffing, quality control, security, pricing units, and ownership of critical decisions.
Technology#
Search, technology-assisted review and the machine learning underneath the marketing.
AI for lawyers: separating the four things being soldA practical taxonomy distinguishes retrieval and drafting assistants, legal research tools, contract analysis products, and discovery classification systems by their distinct controls.Early case assessment: deciding what a matter will cost before committing to itEarly case assessment turns sampled or collected data into concrete estimates of scope, exposure, review burden, and proportionality, giving parties a stronger…Processing: the stage that decides what reviewers will ever seeProcessing determines what reviewers can find, what search terms can reach, and whether exceptions, OCR errors, and date changes leave a defensible…Keyword search vs. concept search: where each one failsKeyword search exposes literal matches and blind spots, while concept search reaches related language but demands harder explanations; defensible review depends on…TAR, predictive coding and CAL: what the courts have actually saidFederal cases establish that TAR is generally permitted in appropriate matters, while defensibility turns on a documented review workflow rather than the…
Process#
Holds, review, privilege and production: how the work is actually run.
The contract repository: making executed agreements findable and usableA contract repository turns executed agreements into structured, maintained records that support renewal decisions, obligation tracking, diligence, and defensible discovery collections.Deposition transcripts and summaries: managing testimony as dataA practical framework for managing deposition transcripts, reviewing testimony across custodians, and verifying summaries before they become part of the litigation record.Document review: how the largest line item is actually runA defensible document-review operation combines disciplined batching, targeted review levers, measurable quality control, and clear instructions that resolve disputes before production.Designing a document review workflow that survives contact with volumeA practical framework for building review batches, coding decisions, instructions, quality control, privilege handling, and production handoffs that remain consistent under volume.Legal hold and preservation: the duty, and what Rule 37(e) does about failurePreservation failures can become sanctions problems; a defensible hold requires a documented trigger, concrete preservation steps, and a clear record of decisions…Privilege review, logging and clawback under FRE 502(d)Privilege review must separate protected content, record defensible log entries, and preserve waived material through a timely FRE 502(d) order and targeted…What a legal hold notice is, and what makes one hold upA legal hold notice is a written instruction to preserve material, while the duty to preserve arises independently when litigation is reasonably…Production formats and load files: the boring thing that causes disputesNative, image-based, and hybrid productions serve different purposes; matching the format, load file, and metadata prevents disputes over what was delivered.Running legal holds as a process, not a series of emergenciesA standing legal hold process turns trigger decisions, custodian scoping, preservation, monitoring, release, and audit into repeatable work, reducing preventable loss and…Remote and video depositions: what changes when nobody is in the roomRemote depositions depend on a coordinated protocol covering the oath, reporter control, exhibits, recording, technical failures, and responsibility for costs.
Platforms#
What specific tools do, described from their own documentation.
DISCO eDiscovery: the per-document model explainedDISCO’s pricing page references a per-document pricing unit but publishes no price figure.Everlaw pricing: what is published, what is not, and what moves the numberEverlaw publishes no pricing figure or pricing unit; its pricing page routes buyers to a scheduled meeting, leaving scope, volume, hosting and…Microsoft Purview eDiscovery: what it covers and where it stopsMicrosoft Purview eDiscovery identifies, preserves, and exports tenant content for external review, but licensing, metadata, scale, and governance require careful planning.Collecting chat: Slack, Teams and why messaging breaks the old workflowChat evidence does not arrive as documents: preservation, unit selection, rendering, and protocol design determine whether Slack or Teams data can be…Logikcull pricing: the per-GB model and what it suitsLogikcull’s November 2026 pricing page names per-GB and per-month units without publishing figures, making volume, retention and trial design the key evaluation…Nextpoint pricing: per-user, per-GB and per-document in one modelNextpoint’s pricing page, checked in November 2026, combines per-user, per-GB and per-document units without publishing figures, making the quoted pricing basis a…Relativity: what the platform is, and why its pricing is never publishedRelativity’s pricing page lists no figure or pricing unit, routes buyers to sales, and leaves product naming and enterprise deployment questions for…