Some perceptions of drawbacks to reliance on law-firm discovery centers

I heard a week or so ago of some dissatisfaction with the services offered by law firms that offer themselves as centers of excellence for discovery work. True, they have banks of computers; yes they know software packages; of course they rely on temps and contract attorneys; and sure there’s the brand name (See my post of Dec. 9, 2008: law firms and contract attorneys in their discovery operations; and Nov. 13, 2007: should law firms run discovery centers.).

But the dark side is that they suffer high turnover and they may not be as closely tied to their litigation brethren as would be hoped. Additionally, the services provided may be lures for doing the really lucrative work of representing defendant corporations in big-ticket lawsuits.