As you think about the price you’re comfortable paying for review services, consider the value you want and what expenses you may be incurring downstream that may not be covered. Level Legal Director of Client Solutions Daniel Bonner shares four ways to avoid the hidden costs of bargain-priced eDiscovery.Many of my conversations with clients needing eDiscovery services begin with questions about our hourly rates. As we discuss pricing, I always raise other considerations that can move the total project cost needle in a significant way, often influencing spend much more than an incremental hourly rate.As you think about the price you’re comfortable paying for review services, consider the value you want and what expenses you may be incurring downstream that may not be covered. Make sure to ask these questions:

• Does your review team choose effective, proven processes based on your desired outcomes, metrics to measure success and pivot quickly if needed, and the people to accomplish your goals with precision? Common cost overruns can be eliminated by thoughtful project planning and workflows, leaving no gaps or surprises. Achieving the best outcome starts with choosing the right people, processes, and metrics.
• Is your review team committed to defensibly reducing the size of the dataset before review begins and capable of leveraging all appropriate TAR solutions? The right review team will be squarely focused on changing the denominator in your price per document equation. Don’t miss the opportunity for significant cost reduction by only focusing on the numerator.
• What are your metrics for having to do rework? Poor work quality means much higher total project costs. Counsel’s time spent babysitting poorly managed teams, conducting QC to fix mistakes, re-reviewing documents to extract key learnings, and getting up to speed because the review team can’t take it over the finish line adds up quickly and at tremendous expense.
• Are deadlines driving your staffing and workflow decisions or do you bring defensible creativity and commitment to cost-effective solutions the table regardless of schedule? When crunch time hits, you need a team that performs flawlessly at high velocity.