Staffing Expert Is Optimistic About the In-House Litigation Support Market

By Ari Kaplan

Special to the Legal Technology Blog

Earlier this week, I attended an invitation-only breakfast hosted by David Cowen, the managing director of The Cowen Group, an executive search and market analysis firm focusing exclusively on litigation support and e-discovery.  The event featured an esteemed panel of thought leaders in e-discovery sharing insider accounts of the early case assessment trend and strategies for conducting one successfully.  The attendees and panelists hailed from corporate America, the AmLaw 200 and vendors, including Anacomp, Capital Legal Solutions, DataCert and Recommind, who co-sponsored the program.

Cowen and I discussed hiring trends and the market for legal talent. While he is observing a flattening of the employment market in law firms, and possibly a depression, following years of double-digit growth, he is seeing an upward demand for staff on the corporate side.  His group, for example, has 12 openings for major corporations looking for in-house e-discovery talent.  Cowen highlights that the moment an organization makes the decision to insource, they realize they need the talent to drive that strategy and will likely get it from law firms and vendors.

He views the corporate market as similar to the positioning of major law firms in 2003-2005, who were just establishing major e-discovery practices.  As such, he has a optimistic view of the employment picture.

Listen to our interview here.

Ari L. Kaplan, Esq.
Ari Kaplan Advisors
(646) 641-0600

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Legal technology writer and author of the Amazon.com bestseller,The Opportunity Maker:  Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development(Thomson-West, 2008).

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[litigation support]

Any Professional support from non-lawyers to the lawyers on any legal issues is litigation support.