Last Updated on February 6, 2026 Sarah Gayda
Legal eDiscovery has become one of the most expensive and risk-prone aspects of modern litigation and regulatory response. As the volume of electronically stored information (ESI) continues to grow—across email, documents, chat, and collaboration platforms—law firms face increasing pressure to control costs while maintaining defensibility.
The good news is that many of the factors that drive eDiscovery risk and expense can be addressed before a matter ever arises. By taking a proactive approach, law firms can reduce downstream discovery effort, improve responsiveness, and lower overall exposure.
What is legal eDiscovery?
Legal eDiscovery is the process of identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to litigation, regulatory inquiries, audits, or internal investigations. ESI typically includes email, documents, attachments, chat messages, calendars, files, and associated metadata.
When legal eDiscovery is handled reactively—after data has already proliferated across systems—it becomes time-consuming, costly, and difficult to defend. Proactive eDiscovery readiness focuses on managing information earlier in its lifecycle so it is easier to find, preserve, and produce when required.
Why legal eDiscovery becomes expensive and risky
eDiscovery costs and risks are rarely driven by discovery tools alone. More often, they stem from upstream information management issues, such as:
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Large volumes of unstructured or duplicate data
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Email and attachments stored inconsistently or only in personal inboxes
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Lack of reliable metadata or classification
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“Keep everything” retention practices that inflate review volumes
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Limited auditability and defensibility
When these conditions exist, legal teams must spend significant time collecting, processing, and reviewing data—often under tight deadlines and regulatory scrutiny.
Shifting from reactive to proactive legal eDiscovery
Traditional eDiscovery approaches treat discovery as a downstream event that begins only when litigation or investigation is underway. A more effective model treats eDiscovery as a continuum, supported by good information management and governance practices throughout the information lifecycle.
Proactive eDiscovery readiness focuses on:
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Capturing information in context
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Applying governance and retention early
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Maintaining auditability and searchability
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Reducing the volume of data subject to review
This approach does not eliminate eDiscovery—but it makes discovery faster, more predictable, and far less costly.
Three proactive ways to reduce legal eDiscovery risk and cost
1. Capture documents and email by matter with context
One of the most effective ways to reduce eDiscovery burden is to ensure documents and email are captured and stored in context, rather than scattered across inboxes and personal folders.
Matter-centric capture workflows help legal teams:
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preserve relevant communications alongside related documents
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apply consistent metadata and classification
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reduce duplication and misfiling
This approach aligns closely with modern legal document management in Microsoft 365, where SharePoint is structured around matters rather than departments or individuals.
2. Apply automated retention and defensible disposal
Retention policies play a critical role in eDiscovery cost control. Without automated retention and disposal, data volumes grow unchecked, increasing review scope and storage costs.
Proactive retention practices include:
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applying retention rules consistently across documents and email
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placing legal holds early and accurately
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defensibly disposing of information that no longer has business or legal value
Automated retention and disposal reduce the amount of data that must be searched, reviewed, and produced—without increasing compliance risk.
3. Maintain continuous eDiscovery readiness and auditability
Legal eDiscovery should not be a one-time fire drill. Continuous readiness ensures legal teams can respond quickly and confidently when discovery obligations arise.
Key elements include:
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Reliable audit logs and activity tracking
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Consistent metadata and classification
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Regular validation of search and retrieval processes
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Governance reviews and user training
These practices support broader information governance for law firms, helping ensure discovery processes are defensible and repeatable over time.
Real-world outcomes from proactive eDiscovery practices
Organizations that adopt proactive capture and governance workflows often see measurable improvements in eDiscovery efficiency and cost control.
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Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC):
By improving how email and documents were captured and governed in Microsoft 365, legal professionals saved over 20 hours per lawyer per month, reducing the time spent locating and preparing information for review. -
L. Fournier & Fils legal department:
Structured email and document governance helped the legal team save up to 80 hours per person per year, significantly lowering the effort required to respond to information requests and audits.
These results demonstrate how better information practices upstream can directly reduce eDiscovery workload downstream.
Implementing proactive legal eDiscovery in Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 provides a strong foundation for eDiscovery readiness through tools such as SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, and Microsoft Purview. When configured properly, these tools support structured storage, retention, and auditability.
However, many legal teams extend Microsoft 365 with purpose-built solutions to ensure governance is applied consistently in everyday workflows. For example, tools like Colligo Email Manager help legal professionals file email and attachments directly into governed matter workspaces, reducing reliance on personal inboxes.
For a practical walkthrough of how legal teams are using Microsoft 365 to manage documents and email by matter, see the webinar 5 Reasons to Use M365 as your Legal Document Management System.
Using proactive eDiscovery to reduce risk without increasing friction
Reducing legal eDiscovery risk does not require slowing lawyers down or introducing heavy manual processes. When governance and capture are built into the tools legal teams already use, compliance becomes part of normal work rather than an after-the-fact correction.
By focusing on early capture, automated retention, and continuous readiness, law firms can significantly reduce eDiscovery cost and risk—while improving responsiveness and confidence during litigation or regulatory review.
Frequently asked questions about legal eDiscovery
Legal eDiscovery is the process of identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to litigation, investigations, or regulatory requests.
Costs increase when data is unstructured, duplicated, poorly classified, or retained longer than necessary, leading to larger review volumes and higher processing effort.
Law firms and legal departments can reduce risk by capturing documents and email in context, applying consistent governance and retention policies, and maintaining continuous readiness rather than reacting at the last minute.
Microsoft 365 provides foundational tools—such as SharePoint, Outlook, and compliance features—that support capture, governance, retention, and auditability needed for defensible eDiscovery.
Yes. Filing relevant email and attachments into governed matter workspaces using tools like Colligo reduces duplication, improves searchability, and lowers review effort during eDiscovery.