Software for Small Law Firms: An eDiscovery Success Story

The right software for small law firms can have a big impact. Read about how one attorney simplified his ediscovery process and improved trial presentation with Nextpoint.

As a veteran litigator and solo practitioner, Don Burns measured cases in banker’s boxes. For Don, a small case was one banker’s box worth of documents. A medium-sized case was two to six boxes. A big case maxed out at 10 to 15 boxes. So when he got a new case in the office with an initial data load of 100 boxes, he knew his approach and procedures would need to change.

The Challenge

For years, Don had used software created by a friend of his to keep track of his documents. The software worked, but it was clunky and slow, even on small cases. It was definitely not designed for the amount of information his new case would involve.

The quantity of email to be reviewed in the case was exponentially higher than any case he’d ever handled before. He thought about using statistical methods to reduce the email count, but he’d never done that before and it concerned him. In every case in his career, he had walked into court confident that he had mastered the evidence and was intimately familiar with every document. Now, for the first time, he wasn’t sure that was going to happen.

Software for Small Law Firms: Smoother Trial Presentation

Don also needed software to help him with his courtroom presentation. The systems he had used before weren’t fast enough. The images he’d show in the courtroom would freeze or delay at critical points during his argument.

These delays annoyed the jury, broke their train of thought, and infuriated him. They were devastating to the delicate balance and pacing he relied on during his trial presentations. Any software that might slow things down and distract the jury from considering his arguments could cost him and his client a victory…