Litigation support professionals help lawyers with large lawsuits. These individuals handle the time-consuming and often monotonous tasks in these lawsuits and provide legal professionals with easier access to pertinent information. Litigation support professionals may specialize in specific fields, such as banking litigation support.
What They Do
These professionals often deal with massive amounts of data. They create databases that allow easy data sorting, indexing and management. They may also contribute to litigation strategies and develop materials that will be presented during a trial. Litigation support professionals also manage courtroom technology and train legal professionals to use various software and the databases they create. They may also work with technology vendors.
Who They Are
These specialists are often paralegals with extensive IT knowledge. This allows them to conduct research and manipulate software. They typically work within law firms, consulting firms and other companies. These professionals may be managers or supervisors over other IT and data entry staff.
Their Skills and Certifications
Litigation specialists have typically received extensive IT training and understand document management. They are adept at manipulating presentation and graphics software. They are strong communicators because they interact with both internal and external firm customers and vendors. Finally, they have superior organization and critical thinking skills.
These specialists can prove their data processing and document analysis skills through professional certifications, such as those offered by the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists.
Why Are They Needed
Litigation support professionals specialize in specific areas. This allows them to do some tasks much more efficiently than legal professionals could. In addition, they deal with some of the more monotonous work. This frees up legal staff to focus on the case and legal process. It also allows the law firm to save money because they do not have to train others to complete this work and manage the process. These professionals also increase a firm’s flexibility by providing support when needed.
An effective support specialist can save you time and money while allowing you to focus on your legal strategy. Consider consulting a specialist for your data-heavy cases.