It’s a $2.8 billion industry, poised for another year of renewed growth as the private sector ups its litigation spending.
The e-discovery business played catch-up in 2009, says Tom Gelbmann, a Minnesota-based information technology consultant and coauthor of the 2010 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey, published in sibling publication Law Technology News in early August. After the industry contracted, for the first time ever — by 9 percent in 2008 — resurgent corporate earnings have helped lift e-discovery spending amid a tepid economic recovery. Gelbmann’s survey saw a 10 percent recovery for the industry in 2009, boosting it back to its estimated 2007 market value, and he projects further double-digit expansion over the next few years.
