Predictive Coding Software Helps Morgan Lewis Review Millions of Pages in 1 Month
As large companies spend increasing amounts of money on electronic discovery, their law firms are turning to specialized software to help find the relevant documents.
Large companies expect to spend about 7.1 percent of their litigation budget on e-discovery this year, up from 5.2 percent five years ago, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports, citing a study by BTI Consulting Group Inc.
But the right software can help reduce the number of documents needing attorney review, helping save money, the story says. The article cites an example: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius used “predictive coding” software made by Recommind Inc. to review millions of pages of documents in less than a month. The review was part of a corporate client’s response to a government investigation.
To kick off the process, lawyers at Morgan Lewis reviewed a smaller amount of records to identify the characteristics of relevant documents. For example, one corporate employee had written many relevant e-mails within a specific date range. The characteristics noted are programmed into the software, and the knowledge is used to scan a bigger batch of corporate records. Lawyers then review the documents deemed relevant by the search.
Stephanie “Tess” Blair, the head of the law firm’s e-discovery practice, told the Wall Street Journal that the software helps exclude the irrelevant documents. “Technology allows us to eliminate 60 percent to 80 percent of records from attorney review,” she told the publication.
Costs of licensing Recommind’s software range from about $650 per gigabyte to several million dollars a year for unlimited data.
