As a business owner, you are constantly juggling with so many things on an everyday basis, and an unannounced litigation affair that keeps holding you back can make things even more difficult to manage. There are different reasons behind the steep increase of litigation cases all over the world, but electronic discovery remains the key contributing factor towards the expenditure incurred on federal litigation matters to this date.
Considering the major litigation disadvantages that make it a priority on every businessperson’s to-do list (like wastage of time, money and energy), it is only wise to seek the professional assistance of a reputed litigation support service provider. But choosing the right assistance for optimum litigation management can be as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack. There are many attorneys and service providers who claim to have experience in your specific litigation matters, but fail to garner success for you in the long run. But you do not need to worry!
Today, the LPO (legal process outsourcing) experts at Virtual Employee will tell you ‘what is litigation’, and how can you choose the best attorneys and legal advisors within your budget to ensure speedy resolutions. To begin with, here are the most common red flags for litigation support partner to watch out for, so that you get to pin the opponent down and register a clear win in the courtroom:
What is Litigation and Why Do You Need to Hire Professional Support?
Simply put – litigation is taking a dispute or disagreement to the court of law for a fair verdict on the matter. As we have already discussed, it can be a long and complicated process that involves presenting the case before the court, and bringing every possible argument on the table to have the judgment in your favour.
Not only do litigation cases usually put a person’s valuable assets or goodwill at stake, but they can also be exhausting in terms of effort, cost and time. This is why, business owners go to every possible extent to win litigation matters at hand, and secure their brand name in the market; hiring professional service providers is a basic step to accomplish the mission.
Common Red Flags for Litigation Support Partner
1. Trying to handle it all on your own
Conducting legal analysis and turning a litigation affair around in your favour is comprehensive and intricate process that needs the assistance of a professional service provider. In case you decide to it all on your own just because you were able to make sense out of a legal document, things may go haywire in the blink of an eye, and even before you realize, you would be waiting for your next court date without the required training, strategy and competence to win. Not having a professional service provider is probably one of the most troublesome litigation disadvantages.
You might have experience in filing articles of incorporation, fighting a traffic ticket, or preparing contracts, but when you talk about critical lawsuits like suing another company, being sued by a client, or making a high-stake deal, seeking trusted legal representation is inevitable for victory. So, rather than making your important litigation cases a DIY task, hiring an experienced attorney is certainly a better idea.
2. Choosing a poor data security plan
Safeguarding your company’s valuable data can be quite challenging, especially when hackers are more determined than ever to sneak in through the smallest of cracks. This is probably the reason why business owners are expected to cross the $1 trillion expenditure bar on cybersecurity in the upcoming years. Since the cases of lawsuits involving sensitive data are on a rise, going ahead with third-party litigation document management services without having a clear knowledge of their cybersecurity protocols can do you more harm than good.
To ensure that your litigation service provider has dependable internal security processes to keep your crucial data safe and secure, see that they:
• are using a reliable framework like NIST’s CyberSecurity or Mitre’s ATT&CK.
• have network segmentation and endpoint controls in place.
• are able to satisfy all your data security queries with the right answers.
• agree to sign an addendum to lower the risk of data breach.
3. Not having a clear communication system with your attorney
Effective and proactive communication is important to empower your attorney to understand and win your case. Once you hire the most suitable litigation support provider, ensure that they are on the same page as you by sharing all the facts and evidences with them (including the ones that seem unfavourable to your case). While at it, do not spare details like your budgetary constraints, specific expectations, logistical issues and any other concerns that you might have.
This is an inseparable part of the process if you want your attorney to offer the most advantageous representation and advice. So, make it a point to provide clear instructions to your legal counsel, so that they are abreast with any special considerations that need to be taken care of. Similarly, you need to listen to your attorney’s advice and read all litigation-related documents very carefully. In case there are some terms and references that you do not understand, it is best to highlight and inquire about them at the earliest.
4. Hiring a team of attorneys with similar profiles
To win a litigation case, having a mix of contract lawyers and technologists with subject matter expertise in the team is the perfect way to go ahead. Difficult lawsuits (especially the ones involving electronic discovery) cannot be handled by a handful of in-house contract lawyers, but they also need the skill of those with proficiency in eDiscovery software solutions and advanced AI for garnering the ideal results.
If you talk about the benchmark litigation in 2024, your chosen litigation support partner must have a complete staff with legal experts, paralegals and attorneys who have adequate knowledge in the required subject matters like AI, data science, project management and customer success. Since employing such a specialized mix of litigation experts can cost you a fortune, outsourcing your project to a reliable LPO firm like Virtual Employee can help you move ahead with strategic guidance and creative thinking.
5. Having poor approach towards defence
We have already talked about the way eDiscovery has contributed to the multiplication of litigation cases around the world due to its technical nature. A trusted litigation support partner understands the litigation risks associated with electronic discovery, and hence, pays a lot of attention to the aspect of defensibility. They are proficient in backing your eDiscovery approach with the essential documents that include related factors like AI methods, chain of custody, review metrics, search terms and review exceptions.
These documents also showcase the results of several QC (quality control) measures. For instance, your privileged documents will be tested for sensitive information, and your non-responsive documents will be assessed for responsive concepts in order to minimize the associated risks for you. Therefore, asking your potential litigation support partner about their experience and approach towards defensibility is important to understand their seriousness to guard your case on the legal front.
Handle Litigation Victoriously with Legal Process Outsourcing
Undoubtedly, it is difficult to trust a third-party service provider when it comes to supporting your organization with benchmark litigation in 2024. There are a lot of speed-bumps that can slow you down when you are looking out for a potential litigation support partner, and high cost is one of the main litigation disadvantages attached to the process. A great way to overcome this demerit could be offshoring to India.
Virtual Employee offers you the opportunity to hire skilled legal experts with impeccable perks like low operating costs and huge time savings. Be it legal research, paralegal services, document review, litigation support or contract management, our team has the best defensibility skills, and our past performances are a clear proof of that. To ensure that we extend expert litigation document management services to business owners in need around the world, we have carefully chosen a team of experienced law professionals in different disciplines via a stringent recruitment process.
Our chief legal experts include legal assistants, paralegal specialists, legal support service providers, patent attorneys, legal researchers, IP contract drafters, and legal transcribers. With the facility of a free trial service available with your chosen resource, you can get a clear idea on how efficient our legal workforce is. Plus, features like 24×7 availability, dedicated resources, remote monitoring, zero overheads and massive cost savings, make the process of outsourcing your litigation affairs a BIG success.
Wrapping Up
Law is complicated! There is a lot that needs to be done to handle a litigation case like a pro, and not just signing a bunch of documents. We’re sure that after going through the above-mentioned common red flags for litigation support partner, you are all set to make an informed decision, so that you do not have any regret stamped in your annual balance-sheet later. For high-quality litigation document management services that snugly fit in your budget, contact our LPO team today!
