Archives – June, 2011
Were you surprised last week by the major malpractice claim filed against a “Big Law Firm” for “failure to supervise” its contract attorneys—allegedly resulting in the improper production of some 3,900 privileged documents to the federal government? [1] If you are anything like us at Pangea3—and you have worked diligently for years to develop and refine processes to prevent just such a situation—then this lawsuit came as no surprise. If you—inexplicably—have had other things on your mind for the past decade, continue reading on to ensure this fate does not befall you.
As reported by The American Lawyer, this malpractice case not only highlights outside counsel’s ethical duty to meaningfully supervise its agents, but demonstrates the potential consequences of failing to do so. The article notes that “while it’s understood that lawyers need to supervise vendors, the standards for that supervision remain imprecise.” At Pangea3 we agree: that’s why we have rigorously studied all available ethical guidance and have worked to establish procedures which—we believe—ensure supervision well outside of any grey area. See, e.g., ABA Formal Opinion 08-451, Lawyer’s Obligations When Outsourcing Legal and Nonlegal Support Services, Aug. 5, 2008 (providing ethical guidance and describing legal outsourcing as a “salutary” trend in our globalized economy).
So how does Pangea3 ensure that outside counsel in our cases provide supervision above and beyond the requirements set forth by these “imprecise” ethical authorities? We achieve this via overlapping processes in which our outside counsel partners are required to:
- draft the review “playbook,” with input from Pangea3’s experienced consultants, which becomes the bible of the review process for our attorneys;
- lead the initiating “kickoff” call, which walks our reviewing attorneys through the “playbook” and numerous example documents;
- respond in real-time to specially crafted “escalation emails” created by experienced reviewers and circulated almost daily, which distill open review issues to their most basic elements. This body of decisions by outside counsel regarding borderline documents creates a constant flow of knowledge transfer between our reviewers and outside counsel, and becomes something akin to an easy to follow “law of the case” that the review team’s first line reviewers follow, and that the “quality checkers” must use to ensure results are consistent.
These methods, and others like them, seamlessly integrate outside counsel into our process from the beginning to the end of each review. They also ensure that outside counsel necessarily exercises meaningful supervision over our review teams.
Furthermore, Pangea3 is the best in the business at ensuring review accuracy. We achieve this uniquely high accuracy by: (1)hiring talented, full-time attorneys after a rigorous vetting process including background checks; (2)providing our attorneys with a clear professional career track; (3) investing heavily in our employees’ development with thorough, rigorous training; (4) providing leadership by U.S. litigators experienced in e-discovery, both on the ground in India, and in the U.S.; (5) utilizing Six Sigma-inspired methods to report on and eliminate errors; and (6) quality-checking, which is more thorough than any other review company—on- or off-shore—we are aware of. Our model does not turn on cutting corners to go faster; rather, our processes ensure that our obsession with quality does not impede our efficiency.
Finally, we adopt a risk-averse approach to privilege review, which locates and codes for “potentially privileged” documents rather than outright privileged ones, and requires a second-level review by outside counsel in order to yield a final privileged set.
If your provider is not making document review this safe and easy for you, maybe it is time to get to know Pangea3.
Reference and Endnote
[1] Company Alleges E-Discovery Malpractice by McDermott
June 16, 2011
Co-CEO David Perla likes to say that “Pangea3 has never been about where work gets done. It’s about how it gets done.” Witness the new Pangea3 Dallas office. Demonstrating our commitment to delivering comprehensive solutions that our clients want and need, the recently opened delivery center in Dallas will offer solutions across all of our service lines. It is an integral part of our multiple centers of excellence strategy, which will allow us to staff projects based on the needs of the customer to a degree not possible before.
The New York Times broke news of the office today, calling it “a glimmer of light” for recent graduates of U.S. law schools. The article includes photos from the Dallas office and quotes from co-CEO Sanjay Kamlani, Lily Liu, an attorney in the Dallas office, and Kirit Amichandwala, a senior manager in our Mumbai office, who spent time in Dallas getting our attorneys there up to speed with our Pangea3 processes.
What to expect from our Dallas office:
Pangea3 Processes: The same high-quality, process-driven and high-touch client service that clients have come to expect from the Pangea3 offices in Mumbai and Delhi.
Greatly Expanded Workday: A follow-the-sun workflow model for a number of the Pangea3 offerings.
Strategic Alternative: Efficiency and savings for clients who may be new to legal process outsourcing as a strategic alternative to doing tasks such as document review in-house
Export Control Issues Solved: Employees in the new office are able to take on tasks that clients – including law firm clients – want to source externally, but involve matters that by law have to be managed and performed in the United States.
Read the New York Times article highlighting our Dallas office.
June 15, 2011
As corporations and law firms know only too well, choosing the wrong provider for document review can be a costly mistake. The intersection of technology and more demanding judicial requirements for data preservation has led to a sharp increase in the volume of expensive and time-consuming document review associated with litigation—but no one has parsed the options, giving guidance to those trying to choose a document review provider. Enter Pangea3. In our upcoming webinar, You Get What You Pay For: Strategies to Help You Select the Best Document Review Provider, experts will discuss practical methods of selecting a document review provider who can best help keep litigation costs manageable, while adhering to deadlines and accuracy.
One of the experts will be Greg McPolin Esq., our Vice President and Managing Director, Litigation Solutions—whose career has, for many years, centered on consulting with clients to reduce the costs of e-discovery and document review. The webinar is free of charge and will be held Tuesday, June 7th at 2 p.m. EDT. Register here.
June 1, 2011
Daily News and Analysis recently interviewed co-CEO Sanjay Kamlani about changes we might see in the LPO industry this year
Sanjay mentions that “work related to regulatory compliance has increased tremendously,” Pangea3 has lately seen activity escalate in this area. Sanjay says that numerous Indian IT and BPO players are looking to invest in the LPO industry as “they view LPO as opportunities to go up the value chain and add a new vertical.” With margins between 15% and 30%, it is no surprise that everyone is now viewing LPO as an excellent investment opportunity.
Sanjay also explains that even though Pangea3 lawyers do not work for Indian clients, legal process outsourcing has expanded the horizons of legal experts in India. While in the past Indian lawyers did not travel overseas, Pangea3 provides opportunities to its employees to travel and work abroad.
Read full article.
June 1, 2011
Sanjay Kamlani is used to thinking globally about all aspects of his business. So it’s not surprising that in an interview about employee training with ItsMyAscent.com, part of the Times of India, he emphasizes his belief that corporate training should be heading towards culture training with a focus on cross-cultural communication. Sanjay says that with “globalization and the cross-cultural nature of teams and client/provider relationships,” the current standard of culture training is “only the tip of the iceberg.” In-depth research on themes like “Power Distance Index, individualism vs. collectivism, long-term vs. short-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance etc”are becoming more important and will enable trainees to successfully interact with their counterparts and clients across the globe.
Read full article here.
June 1, 2011
If you’ve ever been curious about the faces behind Pangea3, now is your chance to take peak behind the scenes. We recently filmed a video that features employees in both India and the United States. In addition to great footage of our Mumbai office, the video includes snippets from interviews with Pangeans across the company.
After the intro, the video looks at the synergy between Pangea3 and Thomson Reuters, including interviews with executive leadership in both Pangea3 and Thomson Reuters. It segues into the vision that drives Pangea3 and the methods we use to add value for our clients. Finally, since “Pangea3 is fundamentally a company made up of people” (as David Perla, co-CEO says in the video), it finishes with the flavor of Pangea3—the company culture so important to both clients and employees.
To view the video, click here. Enjoy!
June 1, 2011