A watershed moment?

The question of how to manage the ever-rising levels of electronic data in large and complex civil proceedings is not straightforward. It can be very challenging to balance the competing interests of ensuring relevant documents are located and disclosed—a cornerstone of the English judicial system—and ensuring that costs remain proportionate and timescales remain realistic.

Using technology to assist large-scale disclosure review projects is nothing new. Even predictive coding—a relative newcomer compared to, say, using online data hosting platforms or keyword search terms—has been used for a number of years now. However, the use of predictive coding and other advanced forms of technology assisted review (TAR) as primary tools in disclosure reviews remained at reasonably low levels coming into 2016. Many practitioners were cautious of using TAR for a number of reasons, some of which may have been rooted in a general lack of understanding of the techniques available or an underlying mistrust of the technology.

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