A decade ago, document review meant a small militia of lawyers sitting in a windowless warehouse surrounded by bankers’ boxes full of paper documents. Now, thanks to extreme information inflation, the bulk of document review takes place electronically. In order to keep up with the enormous volume of electronically stored information, lawyers have employed a method featuring a combination of keyword searches and manual review. Most importantly, e-discovery can be responsible for 70 to 90 percent of the client’s cost of litigation. However, recently, the universe of ESI has expanded in exponential fashion. Exabytes have devoured the smaller gigabytes in the ESI pond. What’s next? Predictive coding.

Predictive coding is being used to run algorithms that allow for computer characterization of a massive set of electronic data for a fraction of the cost of more traditional methods (i.e., a cadre of lawyers). Case law is now catching up to the technology and various judges are giving the green light for lawyers to employ predictive coding in e-discovery without running afoul of the rules. The proper use of predictive coding, especially in large-data-volume cases, provides huge benefits for lawyers and clients: Predictive coding of ESI takes much less time, saves a lot of money and is often as accurate or more accurate than manual review. Of course, predictive coding also can be problematic if, for example, privileged documents are disclosed.

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