Editor: Why did you decide to outsource your review process?
Catanzaro: DuPont has been outsourcing its review services for at least 15 years. We’ve had great success in utilizing outsource providers that concentrate on the task at hand; that are dedicated to finding motivated and highly adept professionals to do the work; that understand the process-driven needs for review organization; and that help us realize significant cost savings over the traditional law firm review model.
That said, in the last six or seven years, the review services industry has grown globally from its historic East Coast center, and so we’ve been expanding the footprint of where we outsource those services. Most recently, we have enlisted the services of DTI at its new offshore facility in the Philippines to be our service provider in the offshore review space, in addition to the services they already provide.
Editor: Specifically, what services will DTI provide?
Catanzaro: DTI will be providing offshore review of documents across our litigation landscape, from product liability to contract disputes. They will be conducting first-pass or responsive review, but they will also be conducting more substantive review, such as first-line privilege suggestions and even drafting privilege comments.
Editor: Why did you choose DTI?
Catanzaro: The fact that DTI is already a partner of ours was a main factor. We trust them and have been satisfied with their other services. We have worked before with many of DTI’s Philippine team members as well as with their management and project leaders here in the U.S.
DuPont has a long history with DTI. DTI’s acquisition of Daticon, one of the first electronic document service providers that DuPont employed years ago, brought it not only DuPont’s electronic document management history but also some of Daticon’s people, with whom we were very familiar.
In addition, DTI had been providing document management services as a subcontractor for one of our previous vendors, and so we had become familiar with DTI before it was solidified as an official PSP, or primary service provider, for DuPont Legal. DTI ingests documents that we collect, then create and host databases for review. They also run searching and culling where required by us and basically manage the technical aspects of document review and productions for many of our matters.
Editor: Tell us about your litigation team and e-discovery process. How will DTI fit in?
Catanzaro: Going from left to right on the e-discovery reference model (EDRM), DuPont conducts identification, preservation and collection internally, unless there’s a special requirement. We generally have a DuPont paralegal or attorney serve as the project manager. He or she will organize the people involved, including the law firms and service providers, pulling them in as needed throughout the process. Next, we bring in our law firm partners, who as subject matter experts define the terms and parameters of the search and review.
At this point, the work is handed off to our service providers for processing, database support and review. That’s where DTI joins the team, and we make sure to get their project managers and technical people involved early on. Because of Rule 26 requirements – and also because it’s actually in our best interest – at the outset of a case we participate in ESI negotiations in which production parameters are discussed with the other side. At this early stage, we consult with our providers and ask them about preferred load files, metadata extraction, etc., so they already know what to expect down the line. If we don’t ask, we can really hurt ourselves in the end.
Editor: Do you continue to discuss search terms throughout the process?
Catanzaro: All the time. One of the things we’re expanding with DTI is the use of their new analytics and predictive coding technology, which we’re looking to incorporate into our discovery workflow, in addition to their offshore review and database services. I’m hopeful this will work well for us.
Editor: Tell us more about DTI’s team in the Philippines.
Catanzaro: While largely technologists, many of those conducting the review work are actually licensed Philippine attorneys, with licensed U.S. attorneys managing some of that process. Based on the U.S. Constitution, Philippine law is very comparable to U.S. law, so these folks understand the needs of U.S. discovery – especially the urgency and the process, which is really important to us at DuPont, as a science company. Also, from a language perspective, because Philippine culture is U.S.-focused, we’re seeing fewer barriers to understanding colloquialisms and cultural references.
Editor: What are the advantages and disadvantages of hosting in the Philippines?
Catanzaro: There are issues in all non-U.S. jurisdictions – not just the Philippines – when it comes to certain topics, for example, anytime export controls are an issue.
Meanwhile, it works out nicely for us on occasion to have our providers 12 hours ahead of us, especially in this Internet age. Our lawyers can video conference a training session at 9 p.m. here, 9 a.m. there. After DTI puts in a day’s work, our lawyers wake up to a list of questions they can hash out that day, thus effectively creating a 24-hour work cycle.
Editor: Have you found DTI to be a cost-effective partner?
Catanzaro: Absolutely. DTI is always finding creative ways to keep costs low while providing us the highest quality available and helping us achieve success in our cases – success as defined not only by coming in on budget but also meeting deadlines and with a high accuracy level. DTI is always available to us and interested in ensuring that we’re satisfied from all those perspectives.
Published January 22, 2014.
