The New E-Discovery Project Manager

Much has been written of late about the growing need for electronic discovery project management in the new e-discovery environment.   In today’s multimillion-dollar, multimillion-document lawsuits and regulatory inquiries, the ideal project managers are a new, absolutely unique breed.   And, as Erika Santiago of Litworks recently posted, project management is not limited to IT professionals, litigation support professionals, attorneys or paralegal.   Roles and responsibilities on a project team are not necessarily defined by the traditional roles we are familiar with in the legal environment.  For her full post click here.   She provides some great links.

Electronic discovery vendors and corporations rely on talented project managers to steer the e-discovery task from start to finish.   It is an area of growing sophistication.   And it is an area that many contract attorneys and other Posse List members have found work.

This week two very good posts appeared discussing all of the “what-you-need-and-who-you-should-be” for project management.  The first appeared in this month’s ALSP Newsletter and was authored by Brett Tarr,  general counsel for eMag Solutions, a major player in the ESI market at both the corporate and Federal government level.   Before joining eMag, he worked as a practicing attorney at King & Spalding LLP and has held chief operating officer, legal counsel, and senior marketing executive positions for several corporations over the past 10+ years.  Quoting from the article:

“If you know hard drives, tape back-up systems and electronic data exchange protocols from A to Z, you won’t necessarily make a good electronic data discovery project manager (PM). If you’re a legal professional, intimately familiar with the laws and regulations governing a specific issue in a specific jurisdiction, you may not make a good EDD manager, either. If you’re a 20-year veteran of corporate or law firm management and administration, you can fall flat on your face trying to manage an electronic discovery monstrosity. If you consider yourself a budgeting expert, good for you – but don’t consider yourself a shoo-in for this job.  If you’re all of the above, you still might not make it as an EDD project manager”.   He sees a trend towards recruiting project managers with a legal background.   For the full article click here.   

In reply to Brett’s post comes Paul Easton, Managing Director of Global Colleague, a litigation support services company based in Washington, DC.    While he agrees with much of what Brett says, and recognizes the value a lawyer or paralegal can bring to the e-discovery project management role, he thinks that Brett understates the technical demands of the job.  Quoting Paul:

“I agree that an e-discovery project manager need not have a computer science degree, but having a technical bent and the intellectual curiosity and aptitude to learn about and understand the technology is, in my experience, crucial.  Keeping on top of technological developments in the rapidly changing realm of e-discovery requires a great deal of time and commitment. Yes, you don’t want a techno-savvy troglodyte in charge of client communications. But over-emphasis on communication and management skills can swing you too far in the other direction. You need to find a balance between Dilbert and the Pointy-haired Boss”.   For Paul’s full post click here.

Project management will continue to grow in importance.  It is why we have seen so many postings to our Project Management job listserv (subscribe here) in the last few months by law firms,  electronic discovery vendors and corporations.