Legal Recruitment

Services include trial presentation, document review and e-discovery

By ANNE JENNINGS

Another year has passed, and it was a difficult one for legal employment in general. Yet despite—or perhaps in light of—the challenges posed by our economy, the world of legal recruiting is replete with innovative solutions meant to leverage the latest developments in technology and business.

Below is a quick review of just a few of the trends expected to shape legal recruitment throughout 2010.

Project Management

There is a growing need for project management services across corporate legal departments and law firms nationwide. When handling large discovery requests, attorneys often turn to their paralegal managers for supervision of document review—especially at firms without permanent project management teams in place, or those that typically don’t undertake large discovery litigation.

Many firms now are recognizing that an effective paralegal manager has developed the same talents over time as a successful project manager, from highly-refined organization and communication skills to expertise in delegation and evaluation—all with a keen ability to meet deadlines and achieve results.

For those firms without a paralegal manager or similar employee to take on large document review projects, specialized recruiting agencies offer experienced legal project managers to accommodate.

Just as a paralegal manager might easily serve as project manager on large discovery and document review projects, a dedicated project manager with solid legal acumen can step in to undertake those same last-minute, short-term assignments. While a contracted project manager typically bills at a lower rate, this approach also keeps paralegal managers focused on core tasks that no one else could readily step in to complete.

Another trend in project-based legal recruitment involves trial consulting and presentation services. Law firms and corporate legal departments have benefited for years from the strategic advantage of contracted document review project teams. Now savvy recruitment firms can place experienced trial consultants that provide comprehensive support for litigation, as well.

Services range from pre-trial preparation, trial presentation and courtroom set-up, to creation of demonstrative graphics and war room configuration. Trial consultants utilize trial presentation software and other leading technologies to present the most persuasive, visually telling case possible before a judge and jury.

E-Discovery

In 2007 the federal rules governing electronic discovery were changed, driven by continued growth in litigation and the explosion of electronic data over recent years. Since then, several trends have enabled highly effective recruiting solutions that surround e-discovery.

First, the advancement of technology now allows for paperless, Web-based review systems to be operated from remote, modular facilities. A process-driven model for electronic discovery has been widely adopted, featuring the metrics and collaborative elements required to ensure a truly defensible process.

The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) provides a common, flexible framework for the development, evaluation and use of electronic discovery products and services. Within this structure, recruitment agencies can now offer viable solutions for managing large electronic discovery projects, typically within the review and analysis stages of the model.

Recruiting firms have long been able to source and retain top talent for electronic document review under any time frame. Now some can provide facilities as well, featuring modular project space as needed anywhere in the United States. They can offer technology, including managed review software applications. And many offer fully outsourced project management solutions that ensure collaborative review under supervision of their client or outside counsel.

During the analysis stage, technology can provide summary reports for evaluation at pre-established benchmarks, including real-time status of review results for immediate analysis by outside counsel. Some agencies also offer consultants the experience needed to assist in culling and editing privilege logs.

Onshoring Services

Another trend worth noting in legal recruiting is the advent of onshoring for legal document review and discovery. More businesses across the United States today are either reinstating formerly off-shored jobs back on American soil or electing to keep new projects in-country, and the recruiting world has taken notice.

Recruiting agencies now feature highly qualified American legal talent with pricing that’s competitive in the worldwide market, often located in a centralized review center for greater cost-effectiveness. As a matter of course, these facilities are specially maintained to exceed the most rigid standards of security and requirements for confidentiality.

Teams can also be assembled locally, anywhere across the U.S., and deployed in rapid response review centers wherever needed.

The advantages of onshore alternatives include quick access to a strong pool of talented U.S.-licensed attorneys at low cost, with the flexibility to deploy a team anywhere quickly on a short- or long-term basis. And with more than 70 percent of litigation costs today incurred in the review stage, every little bit helps.

One case study demonstrates many of these trends in action:

Facing strict legal deadlines for a critical Chapter 11 initiative with very quick turnaround, a leader in the global automotive industry needed to implement a highly confidential short-term legal contact center operation. A specialized legal recruitment firm coordinated their staffing activities to implement and manage a turnkey project solution.

After quickly establishing a secure infrastructure and recruiting more than 120 attorneys and paralegals, an integrated technology platform was deployed for centralized, consistent communications and operational efficiency. The technology provided real-time reporting visibility, plus effective monitoring and 100 percent capture of contact activity.

A process was developed to coordinate highly sensitive inbound and outbound calls, between contracted attorneys and paralegals teamed with the client’s regional managers, and top management at thousands of the client’s field sales locations.

These imperative legal deadlines were met well ahead of the client’s anticipated schedule. As measured in terms defined and mandated by the client and its consulting parties, a project success rate of 99 percent was achieved in just two weeks.

This case is certainly unique in scope. But it illustrates the general direction we see legal recruiting to be headed: More oriented toward project management. More technology-driven, where it’s legally tenable. And generally more flexible, to best accommodate an ever-changing business landscape. No matter the size or scale of your legal operation, look for these trends to impact your recruiting activities, sooner than later. •

Attorney Anne Jennings is managing director for Kelly Law Registry covering the New England territory. She can be reached at jennian@kellylawregistry.com.

Article Source: http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=35945