George J. Socha, Jr., Esq.


2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey

Market Size & Growth

The overview results of the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey Report are available here in summary form. The full report - 360 pages long - is available for purchase.

The public report was in the August issue of Law Technology News and is on LTN's website at Law Technology News.

Survey rankings can be searched at http://www.sochaconsulting.com/topproviders.php

The Warning

Once again, we offer lists of leading EDD services and software providers. We stress, however, that anyone who makes buying decisions primarily on these rankings is a fool.

As with any top-X list, it is important to keep these lists in context and use them only as appropriate. You should not choose a provider based solely on these lists, or solely on the basis of any other top-X list. The factors we examined may not apply to your circumstances, and mostly likely will not apply with the specific weightings and ratings we used. In addition, you will have needs and considerations we could not have taken into account.

It also is important to note that our evaluation model relies heavily on information provided through interviews or questionnaires (spreadsheets). We recognize that there are other vendors with the qualifications to rank within the top X, however the data on them was not available to us. Some providers, including prominent ones, did not provide any data and others, including prominent ones, provided only limited information.

2007 Total Estimated Electronic Discovery Market

Our survey covered the 2007 calendar year. Based on our research, we estimate that 2007 commercial electronic discovery revenues were in the range of $2.794 billion - up 43% from 2006:

2007 Total Estimated Electronic Discovery Market
Tiers Estimated 2007 Revenues
Tier 1 $1.171 B
Tiers 2 & 3 $893 M
Do-It-Yourself $260 M
Software $470 M
Total $2.794 B

Projected Electronic Discovery Market Growth/Shrinkage

As in the past, we used consumer and provider expectations to prepare projections for market growth (or shrinkage) over the next three years - 2008, 2009 and 2010. Judging from those expectations, we anticipate that market growth will continue to be strong with increases of approximately 21% from 2007 to 2008, another 20% from 2008 to 2009, and 15% from 2009 to 2010:

Projected Electronic Discovery Market Growth - Based On Consumer Expectations
Year Projected Market Size
2008 $3.381 B
2009 $4.051 B
2010 $4.666 B

Electronic Discovery Market Growth/Shrinkage - Past & Projected

The chart below shows these estimates and projections, and compares them with estimates and projections from our earlier reports:

2008 Market Projections