Secure Online Hosting Solution and Responsive Troubleshooting Save the Day in Complex Trademark Infringement Case
Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP |
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Client Need >
In December 2006, Cooley Godward and Kronish, LLP, a Palo Alto, CA firm with regional offices around the country, engaged LSI to assist with a trademark infringement litigation project for a pharmaceutical company. LSI was tasked with converting electronic data from various hard drives and loading it into a database stored on one of the firm's servers, where it was accessible to the various offices working on the project. Due to network performance concerns when accessing one common server from multiple locations simultaneously, the offices decided to work on separate copies of the database locally in order to speed up the process. This, however, resulted in a fairly complex and cumbersome process for both companies, e.g., production from multiple copies of the same database, the loading of new data, performing Q.C., etc. CGK needed a solution that simplified the process by using a centralized system that everyone (including opposing counsel) could access quickly and efficiently.
According to Bonnie Nelson, Senior Paralegal at CGK, the firm had been wary of using a web-based database because of the expense and learning curve. But once LSI Vice President Siobhan McCarthy spoke with them about LSI's unique FYI Concordance product, they were quickly persuaded. "Siobhan talked with the attorneys at length and really sold them on it," says Nelson. "She outlined the benefits in both time and money. She wasn't pushy about it, but showed them all the managerial efficiencies of using a web platform. They loved her."
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LSI Solution >
Amsale Kassa, who managed the project for LSI, explained the advantages of FYI Concordance,
a Dataflight product. "LSI is able to host the site and, because it's online, it is accessible
to clients from anywhere around the world, at anytime. Attorneys feel comfortable with it because
it is hosted from a secure facility and access is protected through user logins and passwords."
Nelson adds that the online data management system not only freed up CGK's Litigation Support Manager
to do other things, it freed up space on the servers. The firm's old servers eventually became their backup system.
LSI also provided this client with valuable troubleshooting and problem solving. As production on the project commenced,
LSI was the first to recognize that the attorneys assigned to the case were not turning around the documentation quickly enough to meet the approaching deadline.
Says Nelson: "LSI, who was tracking who and what was being reviewed online, kept telling us how many documents remained on the database,
and kept warning us we weren't going to meet our deadline. Finally, the attorneys realized they were facing an emergency situation."
More than 40 additional attorneys were brought in and housed in a special facility to address the situation. Now, with the document review process managed online,
it wasn't necessary to install software for each of the attorneys, and they were able to assess and provide many more documents faster to opposing counsel.
LSI sent technical consultant Greg Kreutzer, a certified Dataflight trainer, to educate the attorneys in the Concordance system.
And Amsale Kassa was on site around the clock to provide hands-on technical support. "Amsale virtually lived on site for a while," says Nelson.
"I don't know any other vendor who would do that for us. They did a lot of hand holding."
In keeping with LSI's exceptional service, the company found numerous ways to reduce CGK's work and cost investment by expediting the data recovery process.
While performing a quality control search, LSI noticed that keyword searches weren't being performed by the attorneys, a necessary step in order to rid the database of superfluous files.
LSI ended up extrapolating the irrelevant files and streamlining the database for greater efficiency. And, when an attorney accidentally erased some tags,
LSI went the extra mile to recapture the lost files. After the error occurred, LSI customized the program by making an adaptation that would eliminate future tagging errors.
The intensive four-month project was a success. The case settled, and the Cooley team was extremely satisfied with the results. Says Nelson: "LSI is so reliable and, unlike other vendors,
their staff has remained stable and constant over the years. LSI has also provided sound, expert advice even on projects for which they weren't formally engaged.
We trust their integrity, knowledge, and judgment."
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