A Comparison of Major eDiscovery Providers
“The Legal Technology Resource Center (LTRC) provides legal technology resources to ABA members through various outlets including a technology blog, publications, monthly webinars and its extensive website. Technology lives in a state of flux which makes it challenging to stay updated, but the LTRC’s expert staff and member board researches and shares information to give lawyers a competitive edge without having to take time or focus away from their clients or organizations.” -americanbar.org
The ABA LTRC has a resource chart available to members and non-members that compares major eDiscovery providers on the market as a resource for attorneys. The detailed categories include general description, product/license pricing with target market firm size, software compatibility, presentation features, OS compatibility, searching/language support and technical support. Lexbe is pleased to be included in the recent update published 11/2019. Below is an excerpt for Lexbe’s entry. See below for the ABA link to the full report.
| Product Name | Lexbe eDiscovery Platform |
| Description |
Lexbe offers customers use of the Lexbe eDiscovery Platform, which is cloud/web-based eDiscovery and complex document management software. Processing features include: DIY upload/ingestion of native and produced ESI, early case assessment, processing, deduplication, deNISTing, OCR of image files, text extraction of native files, email threading, and exact and near-duplication identification. Review features include: PII and other confidential/proprietary information identification and coding, redactions, technology assisted review (TAR), foreign document auto-translation, auto-transcription of audio and video files, search index auto-updating, tabbed search interface and saved searches, and built-in and unlimited custom coding fields. Export and production capabilities include briefcases, TIFF, PDF and native productions and other exports, standard and custom load files, and automatic or custom privilege log creation. Depo and trial features include transcript management, highlighting, annotations, private and shared notes, and legal fact & issues/chronology construction. |
| Product/License Pricing | The Lexbe eDiscovery Platform is fully scalable and can handle large and small cases/projects. Pricing is based on data stored with no user fees, set-up fees, case fees, etc. Processing is free when done in a hosting account. Hosting plans are available at various data levels, and current pricing starts at $5/GB/Month for subscription accounts. |
| Software Compatibility | Lexbe is completely web-based, so no local servers or offline software is needed. Multiple monitors are supported. |
| Presentation Features |
Lexbe creates one document record per file and extracts important metadata into built in fields while maintaining family relationships. These document records can be organized in multiple views by sorting, filtering, adjusting field display, assigning folders, searching etc. And these views can be saved for convenient referral. Lexbe includes a built in doc viewer that opens as a new web browser window. Here each document record has multiple tabs, including: PDF tab (contains converted pdf), Original tab (original native file for viewing or downloading), Text tab (OCRed text), HTML tab (native extracted text), Translated tab (machine translation of non-english documents), Hits tab (highlighted search terms with text wrap), Redacted tab, Production tab (Bates-stamped versions), and Annotations tab (for witness examination). Multiple features are available through the doc viewer including responsive and custom coding/tagging, notes, and facts and issues assignment. Productions can be run DIY by users with the appropriate rights and then downloaded or distributed via secure download links. Users can create unlimited custom Facts and Issues for presentations, and facts are linked to transcripts, documents and other evidence. Case timelines/chronologies are automatically created from facts and issues. |
| Operating System Compatibility | Lexbe is online/SaaS based and will work with current web browsers on any operating system including Microsoft, Apple and Android. |
| Search/Language Support |
Searches run on a scalable back-end environment and even large complex searches with over 1 million documents return in seconds. Searches run on the Lexbe UberIndex, which combines comprehensive native file text extraction, OCR of images and imaged files, metadata extraction, foreign language translations, and dynamic real time updating into a single concatenated search index to provide comprehensive eDiscovery search results. This includes document tracked changes and revisions, presentation notes, hidden text, hidden cells in spreadsheets, transcriptions of audio and video files, foreign language translations, and OCRed text. Unicode and foreign languages are supported for search. Language identification and machine translation of major foreign languages to English are available also. Lexbe offers a variety of search options, including a simple ‘GoogleTM-like’ search box, but also more complex Boolean, Exact Phrase, Any of the Words and Fuzzy Search options. Searches can be saved and shared and can be additionally filtered by metadata and custom coding/tagging. |
| Technical Support | Lexbe offers free Customer Support, an 800 number, and a 24/7 ticket system. Every new account receives free custom training and free weekly web-based training is also available. The Lexbe Professional Services team is available to help clients with project management of their cases as needed. All Professional Service members are ACEDS certified and have extensive eDiscovery knowledge, expertise and experience. |
The full ABA LTRC report is available here.
