An In-House Counsel's View of E-Discovery

• Author: Jeff Renzi
• Pages: 45-48

Published in Litigation, Volume 48, Number 1, Fall 2021. © 2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be

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An In-House Counsel’s

View of E-Discovery

Utopia Is Usually

Wherever ESI Is Not

JEFF RENZI

The author is a senior attorney in the Commercial Litigation Section of the Law Department at Southern California Edison Co.

We all have visions of paradise, especially when toiling away at

tedious tasks. One typical ideal involves a beach, maybe on an

island, and some kind of tropical drink with an umbrella. Other

idyllic dreams involve mountains, ski boots, and fresh powder. For

Captain Borodin in The Hunt for Red October, trapped in a sub-

marine in the North Atlantic, it was a dream of seeing Montana.

No matter your idea of bliss, it likely does not involve any aspect

of e-discovery. As in-house counsel, I assure you that your client

feels the same way.

E-discovery is held in the same regard as all forms of the dis-

covery process: It is expensive, time-consuming, and subject to

gamesmanship, and it often yields little relevant information in

comparison with the costs. Other than perhaps tracking time for

the billable hour, no task for a lawyer is subject to more derision.

However, most litigation matters will rise, and fall, based on suc-

cess in the discovery process. It is important, so why not com-

miserate over this burden with your client, offer cost-effective

and efficient solutions, and allow this shared experience to help

foster a stronger and more effective attorney-client relationship?

To provide background and context for my musings, for

commercial litigation matters at Southern California Edison

Co. (SCE), we have an internal e-discovery team tasked with as-

sisting in collecting electronically stored information (ESI) and

devising strategies for the efficient culling of data. We also have

in-house litigators who handle some matters without outside

counsel, partner with outside counsel for others, and revert to

a “traditional” in-house role of managing outside counsel for

large-scale litigation. SCE has evolved its processes over the

years and continues to do so, and feedback from outside counsel

is key to such efforts.

Begin Early

It is important—especially in a new attorney-client relation-

ship—that discussions regarding e-discovery begin at an early

stage. Indeed, such discussions may occur before the execution

of a retention agreement, whether during a lengthy request for

proposal process or the negotiation of the engagement. During

interviews for the retention of counsel, we expect outside counsel

will be prepared to discuss e-discovery, both in marketing the

firm’s capabilities and setting expectations for a budget. After

timekeeper fees, e-discovery costs often represent the second-

largest spend for a client in litigation. Because your client’s legal

department is under pressure to control costs, address this area

at the outset (along with other components of the likely legal

spend and budget). The involvement (or lack thereof) of your

client with tasks such as data collection and review will affect

the budget for the matter.

Illustration by P hilippe Lechien