Press Release
 Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting Solution Gives Corporate Counsel Control over Litigation Costs

New Module from PSS Systems Automatically Calculates Discovery Costs for Every Matter to Help Companies Avoid and Reduce Litigation Cost

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — April 21, 2009 —PSS Systems, the leading provider of legal information governance solutions, announced today the launch of its new Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting (DCF) module. The module, which complements the Atlas LCC legal holds and collection system, helps Global 1000 companies continuously forecast and control discovery costs which have ballooned to over 50% of litigation spend. Good cost forecasts enable companies to resolve matters earlier and at lower cost. Atlas DCF is the first litigation workflow system to provide instant cost forecasting as soon as legal holds are scoped, and continuous cost forecasting as matter facts change over time.

"Discovery cost has gone from a small portion to the vast majority of litigation costs, but cost forecasting practices haven't kept pace with this sea change. Without good cost forecasts, legal decision making suffers and costs run higher," said Deidre Paknad, CEO of PSS Systems. "Atlas embeds continuous cost control into the litigation workflow to reduce total spend, improve decision making and increase negotiating power. Companies have hundreds or thousands of matters, runrate legal fees of $50,000 to $75,000 per matter per month, and per custodian costs of $80,000 to $120,000, and Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting gives them tools to immediately and strategically reduce these costs."

Predicting discovery costs hinges on accurate matter facts, including the number of custodians and volume of data, and accurate financial models to predict costs. It can take as many as 40 to 80 hours to manually gather the specific information regarding custodians and data volumes that are necessary to calculate discovery costs in a large matter and much more in legal fees to compile it into a convincing argument to reduce the scope and burden of production and therefore the costs.

"One of our clients' highest priorities is predicting and controlling litigation and discovery costs. Negotiating the scope of production is one of the few levers companies have to reduce cost short of early matter resolution, but the manual exercise to compile data and calculate cost makes it difficult to routinely do so," said Tom Lahiff, director in PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Practice and former corporate litigator. "When custodian, volume and price data are readily available and corporate attorneys have tools to continuously forecast costs, they have the potential to reduce scope routinely and avoid substantial expense. Built-in discovery cost forecasting is an exciting, timely breakthrough." PwC advises clients on litigation readiness and response and is an Atlas solution delivery partner.

PSS Systems' Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting module addresses common legal challenges by eliminating tedious data gathering and number crunching and providing instant, continuous cost forecasting across the matter portfolio. Atlas DCF dynamically re-calculates anticipated costs as matter facts change so corporate counsel always understands the cost profile to keep outside counsel apprised of constraints, resolve matters sooner and negotiate reduced production scope more routinely and effectively. Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting key features for corporate counsel include:

  • Automatic, continuous cost forecasts for every matter in the portfolio
  • Powerful, patent-pending cost forecasting engine which dynamically projects costs
  • Graphical matter cost calculator with actual and typical costs as well as dynamic scenario analysis
  • Dashboards for monitoring discovery costs across the portfolio by fiscal period and key cost indicators
  • Push button reports for negotiating reduced scope of production

Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting is an integral part of the Atlas Legal Information Governance Suite, which reduces costs and legal risk across the enterprise. Built on the Atlas platform and with modules for Legal, IT, and Records Management, Atlas is a single system comprised of the essential corporate EDRM components, including:

  • Intelligent Legal Holds
  • Discovery Cost Forecasting
  • Automated Collection and Compliance
  • IT Governance Portal with Ticketing Workflow
  • Value-Based Retention Management
  • Enterprise Reference Map of Data Sources Organization, and Employees
  • Employee Compliance Portals for Legal Holds and Retention

The Atlas DCF module began shipping in December 2008 with the Atlas 4 platform. Further information on Atlas Discovery Cost Forecasting is available at www.pss-systems.com.


About Atlas
Atlas is the gold standard for legal information governance proven by more than 210,000 active holds under management involving more than 15 million custodians and petabytes of data collected, 100,000 retention schedules globally and end users in over 100 countries. Used by 7 of the Fortune 10 and 5 of the global 10 as well as the 5 largest oil, pharmaceutical, financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare companies, Atlas is the trusted solution for world-class companies. The Atlas Suite is the only end-to-end solution for corporate legal, IT, records and business users designed and built on a single, cohesive governance platform.

About PSS Systems
PSS Systems helps companies eliminate unnecessary legal risk, and discovery and data management costs. Its Atlas suite is the recognized leader in legal information governance with customers like Abbott, ConocoPhilips, First Data and Merrill Lynch. PSS is the innovator that started the legal holds market in 2004 and has the largest concentration of customers and domain experts anywhere. PSS is a trusted business partner to its customers, offering expert insight, best-in-class software, and continuous innovation to address emerging challenges. PSS founded and sponsors the Compliance, Governance and Oversight Council (CGOC) as a part of its commitment to advancing corporate retention and preservation practices. The company is based in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit www.pss-systems.com.

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