Revenue & Operational Impact
This operational drag directly suppresses matter profitability. Run the math on your own docket: count the hours your associates logged to document triage last quarter, multiply by their billing rate, and that is revenue the firm wrote off before anyone negotiated a fee. Client pressure for fixed-fee arrangements means firms absorb these inefficiencies; discovery cost overruns reduce partner take-home and force billing write-offs. High-performing associates leave for in-house roles to escape repetitive discovery work, fragmenting institutional knowledge and forcing firms to rebuild docket expertise annually.