The theory of Relativity
E-disclosure is essential and evolving all the time. It's also time-consuming and expensive, and in many cases presents major logistical difficulties to firms dealing with it. So, any steps forward are worth careful investigation.
BDO have recently adopted a new tool for dealing with e-disclosure, called Relativity. While perhaps not as groundbreaking as Einstein's views on energy, mass and the speed of light, it does nevertheless represent a fairly major improvement on previously available packages; and BDO are offering it to interested law firms.
Why might firms be interested? As so often in business, time and money are the factors which spring immediately to mind – and both of these can be addressed in a much more effective way.
For one thing, Relativity is not priced on a per-gigabyte scale as is the case with most other e-disclosure tools. A flat fee of £175 per user per month keeps costs low and predictable with other associated costs, such as processing and support being agreed upon upfront – one of BDO’s clients is currently hosting 1.1 million records, and the cost is the same. Scalability is straightforward, with it being equally easy to run the system with two hundred users as a single one.
Once the initial data under investigation has been secured, the speed with which records can be accessed, searched and reviewed is also dramatically improved, further saving on costs and reducing case time. The search facility is very robust, allowing users to drill deeply and quickly into the most specific features of a huge overall data set. Detailed analysis is thus easier to perform.
The creators of Relativity have also put a lot of emphasis on making it customisable in many different ways. Layouts and tags can be adapted to the needs of individual users, while security and workflow permissions allow everyone from trainees and junior contract reviewers through to senior partners to be involved with the same matter through the same tool – but with variable permissions appropriate to their level and function. Customisable views make it easy to manage the visibility or otherwise of items to the other side in a case.
General security meets all the latest standards. As well as limiting access by user, IP addresses can be blocked and no data is left on a user's workstation.
Apart from anything else, Relativity is easy to use. The interface is intuitive, based on familiar Outlook/browser conventions. BDO estimates that a user doing a basic review task could be trained in around 15 minutes; and further training can be offered on site or over the phone tailored to the client's needs.
It's no great surprise to learn that Relativity is a market-leading tool. BDO and its clients have been delighted with its performance. BDO would be very happy to visit any law firms who want to see it demonstrated with a view to taking a step forward in 2012. Please contact the Technology Forensic team (eportal.support@bdo.co.uk) for more information.
