article · 1 min read · Pandexis Research · Feb 28, 2026

Cost control in modern eDiscovery: where the new math changes the old workflow

The per-document cost curve has moved. Here is how the review workflow should move with it - without sacrificing defensibility.

The cost curve, then and now

Linear per-document review hour-rates built an industry. The curve is no longer linear. Where consensus review can compress first-pass review by an order of magnitude, the marginal cost on the review side shifts to QA and privilege re-review.

What to compress

First-pass responsiveness, date-range and custodian slicing, near-duplicate clustering, and issue coding for high-volume routine correspondence. These are the stages where consensus review earns its keep.

What not to compress

Privilege calls on communications involving in-house counsel, review of work product, and the final production-readiness pass. Even a 99.9% review system is wrong more often than a matter can tolerate at those stages - and those stages are where defensibility lives.

The operational implication

Restructure review pods around the shape of the new curve. Reviewers move earlier in the workflow (policy calibration, spot-check escalation) and later (privilege QA, production sign-off). The middle compresses.