Discussion Brings to Light Common Misunderstandings of Early Data Assessment

John Blumenschein George I. Rudoy of Integrated Legal Technology, LLC and George Socha of Socha Consulting closed out Day 1 of the CEIC e-discovery Lecture Track with a frank and fascinating discussion on Early Data Assessment and Analytics. Their discussion focused on defining what Early Data Assessment is (as well as what it is NOT), how to go about doing it, and what tools can help lawyers achieve this often misunderstood and highly sought after goal in the electronic discovery process. George Socha is also the co-creator of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, and the two men used this model throughout their discussion. George Rudoy characterized the word “early” as one of the biggest misnomers in the term Early Data Assessment — the key instead is to assess the data early and often, according to George Socha. The two pointed out that because so many lawyers fail to recognize how to achieve Early Data Assessment and Analytics, and with the volume growing of data out there, many lawyers simply get stuck in review, and never get to analysis or assessment. According to George Socha, many lawyers need to get past the notion that electronic discovery is a simple “check box” that they need to take care of before they can move onto “real lawyering”—it is critical that lawyers understand the amount of time and energy that needs to go into achieving a truly successful electronic discovery process, and understanding Early Data Assessment is the key to achieving that goal.