Publication Date

Spring 2013

Journal

South Carolina Law Review

Abstract

Technology-assisted review-also referred to as "predictive coding," "computer-aided review," and "content-based advanced analytics"-is the most important development in e-discovery to have occurred in some time. While technical characterizations of the process vary largely because of differences across software platforms, basically predictive coding is a process whereby computers are programmed to search large quantities of documents using complex algorithms to mimic the document selection process of a knowledgeable, human document review. It is said to do such a review faster and without many of the dangers of human error. Because of its speed and accuracy, it has been described as a fundamental change in the way discovery is conducted. In fact, the popular legal press has predicted that technology-assisted review will ultimately end the armies of document-reviewing contract attorneys employed by law firms. Law firms have scrambled to educate themselves about what predictive coding is, how it can be used, and whether it should be embraced or resisted. Despite all this attention, however, predictive coding had never actually been used in any reported case until very recently. That changed in February 2012 when Judge Peck, in Da Silva Moore v. Publicis Groupe, authorized the use of predictive coding for the first time in a reported federal case.

Volume

64

Issue

3

First Page

633

Last Page

680

Publisher

University of South Carolina School of Law

Disciplines

Civil Law | Civil Procedure | Evidence | Law | Legal Profession

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