Extract from Victoria Hudgins’s article “Assessing E-Discovery Skills Is a Low Firmwide Priority—And That May Not Change”
E-discovery still isn’t taught in-depth by most U.S. law schools. And it also doesn’t typically lead to Big Law equity partnership. So it should come as little surprise law firms aren’t assessing their lawyer and staff for e-discovery skills.
But should they? There’s no sure consensus—opinions are split if such knowledge is needed across all practice groups.
According to the International Legal Technology Association’s (ILTA) 2021 Technology Survey of 460 firms, only 4% of respondents said they assessed e-discovery skills. In contrast, 73% of respondents said they assess information security skills/capabilities, followed by document processing (52%), email (43%) and other functions.
Sources contacted by Legaltech News said ILTA’s findings weren’t surprising and reflected many law firm leaders’ belief that only those in the e-discovery or litigation practice group needed an understanding or ongoing training regarding e-discovery.
