Rethinking Efficiency: 12 Third-party Subpoena Response Ideas

This session of Safari SOP's Lunch Break webinar series gathers ideas from Safari SOP customers for third-party subpoena response: 3 things to start doing, 6 things to stop doing, and 3 things to do better. Every Safari SOP customer is a team that has decided to invest in improving subpoena response, and implementing new technology both delivers quick benefits and spurs thinking about further improvements. The webinar's outline and key points are also published as the article What to Start, Stop, & Improve.

Key points

• Efficiency usually means doing the same work more quickly. Safari SOP customers are doing more, and they ask different questions: where can we improve, what else is worth doing, and what should we stop doing?
• To improve, start by scaling your work on matters that essentially consist of responding to one document. Use template communications to spend less time engaging with the serving party, organize your team's resources in one place within and across matters, and use a modern delivery method that is both convenient and secure.
• Sometimes an efficiency gain means doing more. The three things to start doing are investing in online tools that automate your most time-intensive processes, setting expectations with the serving party up front, and pursuing cost reimbursement with an efficient way to collect payment.
• The six things customers have stopped doing are responding with paper documents, custom work on routine matters, timekeeping and law firm-style invoicing, unnecessary communication with the serving party, adding extra work for the serving party, and frontloading work before setting expectations.

Common questions

Why set expectations with the serving party up front?

Waiting means facing the inevitable questions and pushback when there is a misunderstanding. The outline also lists frontloading work before setting expectations among the things to stop doing.

Should a response team track its time and invoice like a law firm?

No. Timekeeping and law firm-style invoicing are among the steps Safari SOP customers have eliminated. Pursuing cost reimbursement, with an efficient way to collect payment, is one of the three things to start doing.

What results has a customer seen?

Christina Santangelo, Litigation Manager at Red Robin, said: "Prior to Safari, responding to subpoenas took a lot of effort, and we knew we were leaving money on the table. Now, Safari is saving us about 30-60 minutes per subpoena."

How does Safari SOP help?

Safari SOP was designed specifically to make all of these changes and improvements easier.