Litigation Support
Litigation support encompasses the services, tools, and processes that assist lawyers in preparing and managing cases — including document management, e-discovery, evidence organization, trial preparation, and case analysis.
Last reviewed: 2026/05/19
Definition
Why It Matters for Lawyers
How AI Tools Handle It
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q1: What is the difference between litigation support and e-discovery?
- E-discovery is a subset of litigation support focused specifically on electronically stored information — its preservation, collection, review, and production. Litigation support is a broader term covering all tools and services that assist in case preparation, including case management, evidence organization, legal research, expert coordination, and trial technology.
- Q2: When should a firm use outside litigation support services versus in-house tools?
- For high-volume or technically complex matters — large document collections, specialized processing needs, rapid turnaround requirements — outside litigation support vendors provide expertise and infrastructure that may exceed what a firm maintains in-house. For firms with substantial regular litigation practice, investing in in-house platforms like Relativity or Everlaw may provide cost and control advantages over per-matter outside vendor relationships.
- Q3: How does AI litigation support affect the cost of discovery for clients?
- AI-assisted review typically reduces per-document review costs compared to manual attorney review of the same collection. The savings depend on collection size, review protocol, and the specific tools used. Clients should ask for a discovery cost estimate both with and without AI assistance on document-intensive matters, and should understand the quality control procedures used to ensure adequacy of the AI-assisted process. --- *Last reviewed: 2026-05-19 by LawyerAI Editorial Team.*
Related Concepts
E-Discovery
E-discovery (electronic discovery) is the process of identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information in response to litigation, investigations, or regulatory demands.
CapabilityDiscovery AI
Discovery AI is software that applies machine learning and natural language processing to litigation discovery, automating document review, relevance classification, and issue identification across large document collections.
CapabilityBrief Analyzer
A brief analyzer is an AI tool that reads a legal brief and automatically extracts arguments, identifies cited authorities, assesses argument structure, and surfaces potential weaknesses or gaps in the legal reasoning.
Legal PracticeDeposition Prep
Deposition preparation is the process of organizing case facts, reviewing documents, developing questioning strategies, and preparing witnesses before a deposition to ensure effective examination or cross-examination of the deponent.
Related Tools
- Everlaw
Cloud eDiscovery with AI predictive coding and document summarization.
- Filevine
Case management with AIFields for personal injury and plaintiff practice.
- Supio
AI document analysis purpose-built for personal injury case preparation.
- Casetext
AI-assisted legal research with CARA case analysis, now part of Thomson Reuters.
Related Comparisons
Related Reading
Last reviewed: 2026/05/19. Definitions are written by the LawyerAI Editorial team. We do not accept affiliate commissions; Featured placement is clearly labeled and does not influence editorial content.