This article appeared in Cybersecurity Law & Strategy, an ALM publication for privacy and security professionals, Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Corporate Counsel, Internet and Tech Practitioners, In-House Counsel. Visit the website to learn more.

Technology-assisted review (TAR) is a critical component of ediscovery or document review. While it can broadly refer to almost any manner of technical assistance, more narrowly TAR refers to techniques that involve the use of technology to predict or to replicate the decision a human expert would make about the classification or category of a document.

TAR has evolved over the past several years and often comes with a version number — TAR 1.0, TAR 2.0, and more recently, TAR 3.0. Each version has its merits and place, which makes understanding the underlying process and technology crucial to selecting the right approach for a specific discovery need.