(Spoiler Alert! The answer isn’t “just use GenAI.”)
Despite the evolution of legal tech and the emergence of gen AI, legal spend continues to consistently increase year on year since the late 1990’s and there is no sign of that changing anytime soon.
Law360 recently reported that litigation spending is set to continue to rise “…as legal disputes become more complex, more contentious and more high stakes”.
“Sixty-for percent of law firms’ clients say they are planning to increase what they spend on litigation in 2026, up from the 57% that said the same a year ago. More than two-thirds of those companies that are growing their litigation budgets anticipate spending at least 10% more on cases in the coming year, according to BTI Consulting Group’s Litigation Outlook 2026.”
Law360, September 18, 2025 – Litigation Spending To Keep Growing As Biz Risks Run High by Jack Kap.
For corporate legal departments increased litigation spend inevitably means increased discovery costs with the document review phase remaining the most cost heavy phase of the process. Engaging the right resources at the right time alongside proportionate defensibility has never been more critical.
Why Partner with an ALSP for Document Review?
For years, forward thinking legal departments have partnered with Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs) to reduce cost and mitigate risk through robust, defensible review workflows.
ALSPs supply experienced and knowledgeable resources who seamlessly extend in-house legal teams to handle document review tasks such as first level review, redactions, witness preparation, chronologies, and other litigation support activities.
Key advantages include:
1. Efficient, Transparent Budgeting
ALSPs offer flexible, customizable pricing designed to maximise budget efficiency. Commercial models are matched to each individual legal team’s specific preferences and project needs. By assigning the right resource at the right level and rate, ALSPs can provide budget predictability and cost optimization throughout the review. A good ALSP will provide regular, transparent pricing and cost projections, allowing litigants to plan ahead, avoid unexpected overruns and stay in control of their budget.
2. Technology and Best Practices
Leading ALSPs pair document review expertise with advanced technology including AI capabilities. Selecting a provider with a tech-agile model means they are free to objectively recommend the right tools and build tailored defensible workflows that incorporate review efficiency techniques such as analytics, machine learning and genAI but only with intention, where they add value. By using technology strategically, rather than indiscriminately, ALSPs help legal teams reduce review volumes, accelerate turnaround times, and minimize unnecessary spend, translating directly into significant cost savings without compromising quality.
3. Focus on High-Value Legal Work
By partnering with an ALSP, internal teams and their law firm partners can stay focused on the core complex, strategic legal issues. An ALSP acts as an extension of the legal team by adding dedicated resources with expertise project management, delivery excellence, custom solutioning and process optimization. By shifting tasks to a trusted partner, organizations can deploy their in-house and outside counsel more efficiently, reduce reliance on high-cost legal resources and ultimately lower overall legal spend while improving outcomes.
4. Enhanced flexibility and scalability
The expertise of an ALSP lies in the ability to rapidly source and onboard appropriately experienced teams at short notice and to scale up (and, equally significantly, scale down) in response to the demands of each project. When volumes shift or deadlines change, resources can cost effectively be integrated into existing teams to maintain progress and meet targets. This flexible resourcing model eliminates the expense of carrying underutilized staff during quiet periods and avoids the premium costs often associated with urgent, last-minute resourcing, delivering greater budget control and measurable cost savings.
Document Review Done Right
Modern disputes generate large and diverse data sets across multiple custodians. The review process must filter irrelevant or duplicate material, identify relevant, privileged, or confidential documents, and apply necessary redactions before production, all under strict deadlines and court scrutiny.
Document review is a specialised skill that requires dedicated resources, well-defined processes and expertise. Document review specialists excel in the intricacies of reviewing and analysing documents in litigation, disputes and investigations. They bring deep experience in managing complex reviews with precision and defensibility, at scale. Document review process best practices include:
· Clear protocols, reviewer training and feedback
· Transparent timelines and budgeting
· Robust and defensible processes, particularly with respect to Quality Control.
· Project specific technology enabled workflows
And, when it comes to workflow design, defensibility is key. A strong, repeatable process remains essential, but it must adapt to the nuances of each matter and data set. By partnering with a document review specialist, you avoid one-size-fits-all solutions and gain a workflow that remains efficient, proportionate and legally defensible, even as case dynamics change.
The result? Better outcomes, higher quality, smarter workflows, and meaningful time and cost savings. All while maintaining full control over budgets and defensibility.
Will GenAI Replaced Human Review?
In short, no.
Human judgement is at the core of any and all review workflows in the form of training, calibration and validation. These three pillars still underpin a quality-first review approach irrespective of the technology utilized or the incorporated workflow. Yes, genAI helps to reduce the amount of manual effort involved but it does not and will not eliminate the need for human judgement.
Think about it, fully automated review has been legally defensible since 2018, yet litigators continue to choose human-guided processes. Human judgement remaining at the core is not a “problem to be solved”, it’s central to effective advocacy and a successful litigation strategy. ALSPs enable clients to harness the power of advanced analytics and AI without surrendering control or defensibility.
Transform Your Legal Function with Integreon
Are you considering a partnership with an ALSP to maximize the efficiency of your legal function and deliver desirable outcomes from critical activities like document review, deposition preparation and trial prep?
Integreon is an award-winning global provider of ALSP services for corporations and law firms, helping businesses expand capabilities and enhance performance. Integreon’s expert teams’ partner with clients on document review engagements and offer privilege review, redactions, witness preparation, document summaries, chronologies, and other services supporting disputes and investigations.
The Integreon Advantage: Tech-Agile, AI-Enabled Review
At Integreon, we bring value with a unique blend of expertise, flexibility and technology fluency:
Tech Agility Without Bias
Being truly tech-agile means Integreon is not tethered to a particular technology or workflow. Integreon recommends the right technology and workflow solution for the matter, with no ulterior motive.
Human Judgement At the Core for Defensible AI
GenAI can accelerates review and associated tasks, but defensibility still requires expert human training, calibration and validation. Our cross-functional teams, combining AI specialists, delivery experts and process engineers, design proportionate, statistically sound workflows that withstand judicial and regulatory scrutiny.
Proven Excellence Built on 30 Years of Experience
With nearly three decades of experience in document review, Integreon has perfected tried-and-tested workflows and processes that consistently deliver the highest quality outcomes. Our cost-efficient, expert resources and operational maturity translate directly into optimized budgets, measurable cost savings and reliable results for our clients.
Scalable, Global Delivery
Multi-shore review centers and a vetted global talent pool let us flex resources up or down to meet deadlines without sacrificing quality or control.
The Bottom Line
Litigation budgets will keep rising, matters and the diversity of data will continue to become more complex. However, with Integreon as your tech-agile document review partner, your legal team can gain the insight, efficiency and assurance they need whilst never relinquishing control, or exceeding budget.