Technology has changed every industry in both positive and negative ways. For example, legal firms hold highly sensitive information that is attractive to hackers. October is Cybersecurity Awareness month, and while that generally means focusing on overall cybersecurity, in the legal space, it is essential for client data to be hosted and managed by eDiscovery and ISO 27001-certified digital security experts.
But while technology (and malicious software) puts sensitive data at risk, it can also be used to protect that data and to streamline the entire eDiscovery and Electronic Document Review (EDR) process.
So, let’s take a dive into what technology (and the right eDiscovery partners) can help legal firms achieve.
- Security is built in
Working with an eDiscovery partner that offers top international-recognised solutions and platforms ensures that all data transfers are encrypted and tracked through robust chain of custody methodologies. It also means that the entire EDRM methodology is followed, as well as the fact that the electronic document review teams working with the data have the necessary security in place.
- Early case assessment is more relevant
eDiscovery experts can optimise work flows by utilising advanced early case assessment (ECA) tools in conjunction with a structured review of search criteria across responsive documents. This means the EDR team is not relying on keywords alone. Search criteria can include concept searching, the use of complex keyword phrases, regular expressions, domain analysis, file type and data source filtering.
Search criteria is then optimised through the use of ECA tools that can visualise the conversations taking place in the data set and offer colloquial language and code words being used by custodians.
This in turn can assist in identifying conversations that are similar in nature to those identified as relevant but not necessarily keyword responsive. The result? A far better basis for legal cases, ultimately resulting in better legal strategies because more relevant information has been identified.
- Machine learning can refine the entire eDiscovery and EDR process
An eDiscovery expert can use machine learning to:
- Get to the most relevant documents first, significantly reducing the number of documents required for EDR, saving time and costs.
- Refine search criteria to reduce the number of false positives.
- Identify inconsistent approaches to relevancy across the EDR team.
- EDR is optimised
As we’ve pointed out, the EDR process is optimised because the most relevant information is identified, but there’s an added element too: documents can be categorised and tagged by issue, language and technical complexity, which means the most appropriate members of the review team can be assigned to the documents most relevant to them. For example:
- Zulu-speaking reviewers will be assigned documents in Zulu.
- Chartered accountants will be assigned documents requiring accountancy expertise.
- Documents determined to be less relevant can be assigned to a junior team
- Highly relevant documents can be flagged and immediately reviewed and passed to the senior legal team who are strategising the case.
- Human errors are avoided
The best eDiscovery and EDR platforms identify inconsistencies in review decisions. This mitigates the potential discovery, or non-discovery, of certain information, including:
- Identifying inconsistent reviewer decisions, such as flagging an attachment to an email for discovery, but excluding its covering email from the production.
- Identifying exact and similar copies of confidential, sensitive and privileged information contained in the review pool that may need to be excluded to avoid waiving privilege.
- Identifying partially privileged documents that have been redacted but may be inadvertently disclosed by producing the native covering email that contains the same document as an attachment but not redacted.
- Applying automated redactions to specific information, such as, sensitive personal information and privileged information within a litigation, regulatory or DSAR production.
It’s important to remember that during a structured document review, the EDR team electronically categorises documents for relevance to specific allegations and issues. This significantly reduces the administration time and error in producing the documents.
How LexTrado helps
LexTrado is an independent firm specialising in litigation support services, including eDiscovery services, Virtual Data Rooms, hosting of sensitive data in encrypted and highly secure environments, hosting of ICT systems for companies in business rescue or under liquidation for financial wind-up and digital escrow services.