Ringtail 8 manages the middle (information analysis) and part of the right side (information delivery) of EDRM. Information analysis in ERDM is composed of three closely interrelated steps: processing, review and analysis. The Production functionalities of Ringtail 8 actually assemble/deliver information that attorneys may use in the presentation step.
All the work that Ringtail 8 performs leverages the Ringtail database. This starts with the data that has been delivered by Ringtail from some ERDM information collection tool. While it would be nice if the data transferred was as limited in size as possible--to reduce the time required for processing, review and analysis--that is not as critically important as ensuring that nothing relevant to the case is missing. Better to err on the side of having too much data than not enough.
If relevant data is left behind and that fact becomes known, a number of often serious legal repercussions or penalties can result. So, within reason, having more data than you need is not a severe problem. Hard disks are cheap, and iteratively culling extra data through processing and analytics, as long as the volume isn't unbelievably large, should not be a terrible burden. The key is that what the lawyers eventually have to visually review should be as small and relevant to the case as is possible. That is why FTI emphasizes that the focus of Ringtail 8 is increased review productivity. IT hardware is relatively cheap, especially compared with the cost of the time of legal professionals.
The Ringtail database is designed to contain all the necessary information for a case, providing a foundation upon which reviews can be conducted in a highly productive manner, which is code for getting the precision in the results while keeping costs under control. It does this in a number of ways. Clustering of relevant document collections around key concepts can help intelligently route the most important (or hot) documents to the right reviewers first. The ability to search across both document content and fields in one action, and then highlight key information in multiple colors, can focus reviewer attention quickly and easily, and thus improve productivity. Litigation involving a major e-discovery process can be very expensive.
Early case assessment (ECA) provides one method of estimating the risk in terms of money and time that it will take to prosecute or defend a legal case. And each party (plaintiff or defendant) in civil litigation may very well want to make the apparent cost of the case to the other side as high as possible in order to encourage early settlement on as favorable terms as possible. In fact, it typically is in the interests of both parties to settle early rather than risk higher-than-expected or necessary costs.
