The rise of e-discovery over the last decade has provided law firms with fertile ground for racking up hours on document review, but it has also made the traditional method of having associates conduct the work under the guidance of a partner far too expensive for corporations intent on tightening their belts.

Meanwhile, vendors that had focused on the systems end of document production have expanded their services, offering corporate law departments specialized staff to review the documents at a one-stop price, which can often be pushed even lower by using employees in places like India.