eDiscovery Bill Shock

You have just received your monthly eDiscovery bill. Your eyes scan to the bottom line and you see an arrangement of numbers that resemble the first prize of last Saturday’s Lotto draw.

 

Not what you expected? A few too many zeros? All of a sudden you feel the need to hold on to your pants? You’re probably just experiencing bill shock, it’s that negative reaction that you experience when your bill is higher than expected. Some people describe it as the same discomfort you feel when you’ve just been robbed.

 

The expectations relating to costs are usually set out in the project proposal that the vendor formulates for the legal team. Some of these proposals can be very confusing and lawyers can have trouble deciphering how the different costs are applied or if they are even relevant at all. At the same time, when formulating proposals, some vendors can be guilty of exercising the same level of salesmanship that is more fitting to someone selling snake oil.

 

The most common contributors of bill shock in ediscovery are related to:

• Higher rates for bundled services (not all the services in the bundle are necessary, but you pay for them anyway)
• Unaccounted hourly rates from consulting
• Hidden charges

 

In some cases, a higher bill is genuinely warranted, as the scope of a project can change over time or the assumptions used to formulate the proposal are under stated. If this is the case, a good vendor will always inform the legal team of the changes and the impact on costs. The failure to do so usually results in bill shock and something that will eventually result in a difficult conversation with the lawyer’s client.

 

For transparent costs talk to one of our team today.