TransPerfect Legal Solutions was recently voted the #1 End-to-End E-Discovery Solution Provider by the readers of the New York Law Journal. Jason Velasco, the Founder of the Out of Curiosity podcast and of EDiscovery Advisory, a global group of technologists and experts in eDiscovery and Information Governance, sat down with Vice President of Discovery Services TLS, Katie Perekslis, to learn the secrets of TLS’s success. This article presents key content from that interview.

Jason (Host): I saw that TLS was recently named the best end-to-end e-discovery provider in the New York area. What can you tell me about that?

Katie (TLS): We’re really honored to have been recognized. We believe it validates our core belief that if you marry great client service with great technology, there is no limit to what you can achieve. The road of e-discovery is full of complexity and is often treacherous. Clients need a true partner and professional advisor, which we’ve worked extremely hard to become.

Jason (Host): You mentioned great client service. How do you identify and maintain the right kind of project case managers for your workflows?

Katie (TLS): Being a successful e-discovery project manager is not an easy task. You need to really excel in both technical hard skills and the “soft” skills of client communication and project organization. I really believe that to be a successful e-discovery project manager, you have to be technically trained and hands-on. You cannot truly advise your clients if you don't understand what the technology is doing and what the technology is capable of. We accomplish that through a lot of training. We have a dedicated training team. We have an internal RCA training program. We’ve even had more personnel certified by Brainspace than almost anyone. On the “soft” skills side, we look for people who share our dedication to client service, which is really central to the DNA at TLS.

Jason (Host): That makes sense. I’ve always thought one of the essential backgrounds for an e-discovery project manager is having worked in food service or retail. Switching gears, you also mentioned great technology. What is your overall approach to new technologies in this space?

Katie (TLS): One of our crown jewels is Digital Reef, which TLS acquired almost a decade ago as we saw a need for a powerful engine that could process massive volumes of data quickly. While we acquired Digital Reef for its speed, what’s proven to be just as valuable to our clients is the integrated ECA dashboard, which we call Pre-Review Analytics® because it enables clients to get to know their data and filter out more junk before exporting to Relativity. Clients that take the time to engage the process have increased their filtering rates from the industry-standard 80% to almost 93%, which obviously dramatically decreases downstream document review and hosting costs.

Beyond that, we invest substantial time and resources innovating workflows to manage the new business platforms that are on the rise. From collaboration and messaging platforms like Slack to the rise of Teams and Zoom during COVID, being able to pivot and address new data sources is essential (just as we did when text messages became common in the business setting and we went built our own text message review tool). I think what's coming next is emoji analysis, which is quickly becoming a need.

Jason (Host): That is a big challenge. So, Katie, thank you so much for joining me today, and congratulations again on your award. They’re a pretty big deal.