Technology-assisted review and the predictive coding process have transformed the discovery process of litigation in ways that were inconceivable even a decade ago. In fact, if you look up the definitions of technology-assisted review and predictive coding in Black’s Law Dictionary, Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, or the Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary, you will be forced to look elsewhere. This lack of definition does not minimize the importance of these concepts, but instead reflects the speed at which technology is changing.
Predictive coding, a form of technology-assisted review, is at the forefront of legal technology. It is a computer program that assists in document review through the use of an algorithm. The program “learns” how to review for responsiveness based on a legal professional’s review of a sample set of documents. The predictive coding software then reviews the sample set of documents and applies what it has learned from this set to the entire document collection. The review team continues to refine the results through the predictive-coding software system until the software identifies likely relevant and responsive documents. The program’s ability to increase accuracy and to reduce the time spent on human review and the cost associated with the review process are considerable.
