The Evolution of Litigation Support From Cost Center to Strategic Asset

An offshoot of IT, litigation support was traditionally a cost center, a part of a law firm that did not produce direct profit but added to the cost of a case. While not directly adding to the firm’s profits, it did typically add value and fulfilled an important function. As a cost center, operational decisions were typically driven by cost considerations. Investments in new equipment, technology and staff were often difficult to justify because indirect profitability does not translate to bottom-line. The value provided by litigation support was poorly understood.

Soon enough, law firms began billing litigation support professionals on an hourly basis. Moving to a profit center, litigation support saw increasing support from law firms, salaries grew significantly after 2003. Law firms saw that skilled project managers or coordinators brought significant value.

As described in my last post, the value demonstrated by litigation support professionals, the ability to manage all the moving parts associated with a legal matter, is today more fully understood. Litigation support helps mediate creative thought among the firm or legal department's people, environment and technology. It organizes details, defines a narrative of what has happened and transfers knowledge among the stakeholders. This understanding provides an opportunity for attorneys to strategically partner with litigation support and to define value delivered to clients.

Adding defined value on a continual basis, litigation support is at its best. It becomes a strategic asset when it captures, measures and applies value from one matter to the next in a continual process improvement methodology. With e-discovery, we learn something new about process nearly every time we execute it. It can be said that the role of litigation support among a host of things is to limit the number of times an attorney feels this is the first time he or she has done ‘this’, fill in the blank. By taking the time to apply our experiences from one matter to the next, litigation support makes the process better. This is especially relevant when we have to insert new processes, which is a constant in litigation support.