The advancements of many legal technologies have rested on their ability to better understand the data they ingest and automatically categorize and classify it. Such is the basis for data analytics, but only recently has classification become so accurate and able to be leveraged for so many purposes, spurred by the advancements in artificial intelligence's (AI) machine-learning capabilities.

Today, data classification automation is being leveraged more broadly to help legal teams meet new demands, such as organizing and protecting the data they store, and traditional responsibilities, such as managing spend. But despite the wider applications of this automation, it still has yet to reach every corner of the legal world.

Given its growing integration with e-discovery , information governance was a natural area for data classification automation technology. Farid Vij, lead information governance specialist at ZL Technologies, explained to Legaltech News that legal teams often need to leverage such technology internally to gain analytical insights and tag unruly data.