Not too long ago, there was an almost evangelical fervor in IT that search engines could solve the problems of discovery within large volumes of ESI. But as legal professionals wrestled with increasingly large volumes of EDD, it became clear that exotic technology alone is not the solution.

Many Am Law 200 firms have taken at least some new steps to grapple with the fast-changing world of e-discovery. Several different models for tackling the e-discovery behemoth have emerged, which include an EDD practice group or task force as well as full-time e-discovery partners.

There’s so much e-mail in e-discovery it’s easy to lose sight of its inherent simplicity, says EDD special master Craig Ball. It isn’t just geek stuff, it’s lawyer stuff, too. E-mail is really as simple as a postcard because everything in e-mail is plain text no matter what was transmitted.

Legal tech shows can be pedestrian when compared to CES or Interop.

Because arguments in high-stakes cases are frequently more nuanced, the identification of supporting evidence requires the culling of vast volumes of information. For the BP oil spill, e-discovery will be a beast — but even in potentially huge cases, it’s possible to reduce EDD costs.