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FTI Technology: Running Rings Around e-Discovery: Page 3 of 4

And so the e-discovery players on the information collection left side of EDRM, who may spill over a little into the more analytical part, often claim that they can do ECA. After all, if their software tools can be used in the process, they can claim to cut down the often substantial overall costs of e-discovery. Of course, the vendors to the right of the information collection process, such as FTI Technology, want to claim that they provide what is really needed for ECA. Who is right?

An attorney friend of mine once told the story of a civil litigation case where the judge raised the question, "Is anyone here on a matter of principle?" A plaintiff raised his hand. The judge turned to him and said, "A law suit is about money, not principle, and who wins what money. That is all." So the money involved is, of course, a major consideration. A second consideration is overall complexity of the case. Now, there may be some outliers and exceptions, but there would seem to be some correlation between the amount of money involved in a case and its complexity.

Simple cases involving little money or complex information may be resolved early on, so ECA could probably be handled by vendors on the left side of the EDRM framework. There may also be some gray areas of cases with moderate complexity and amounts of money where these solutions could be effective. But by that measure, it is apparent that relatively complex cases involving relatively large amounts of money require sophisticated process, review and analysis solutions like FTI Technology's Ringtail 8. Yes, the e-discovery costs go up, but those costs should be only a fraction of the money that could be lost by not being thorough, wasting valuable time or settling prematurely. And this is the space where the big boys play, including FTI Technology.

Who do you call when you need help in managing your e-discovery processes? FTI Technology brings to bear powerful services and consulting expertise for e-discovery processes, as well as the IT infrastructure technology required via its Ringtail 8 solution. Often, e-discovery projects involve almost inconceivable volumes of information. Separating the wheat from the chaff, and then winnowing the information to find the grains that are most meaningful, can be a daunting task. With the latest Ringtail 8 solution, FTI Technology delivers the software horsepower to support and perform the key process, review, analytics and production steps in the EDRM framework.

Enterprises might wish that their information liabilities in the form of civil litigation would never occur, but why waste time on pipe dreams? Those organizations that have to face facts and deal with litigation head on should take comfort in the fact that FTI Technology provides the powerful and effective software, services and consulting to complement and supplement their own internal legal professionals and capabilities.