Predictive Coding: What Is It?

and Why Use It?

October 2014

Agenda: All About Predictive Coding

1. Other Names2. What Is It?3. How Does It Work?4. Why Not Just Review Documents Manually?

○ Because Predictive Coding Saves Time5. Why Not Just Search for Documents?

○ Because Predictive Coding Does More○ Because Searching Misses a Lot

Been Hearing ‘Predictive Coding’ A Lot?

Can be called:● Predictive coding● Predictive rating / ranking● Technology-assisted review (TAR)● Machine learning

Becoming a necessary litigation technology:● Due to the growing size of the average

legal case

Why Predictive Coding?

But what is predictive coding, and why should you care?

What Is Predictive Coding?

● A legal technology● Often provided by ediscovery vendors● Software that aims make accurate predictions

about the importance of legal documents, based on human input

● Has goal of making a ‘first pass’ on documents, to make reviewers’ time more effective and efficient

How Does It Work?

Process:1. Document reviewer(s) rate(s) a small

set of documents as “important” or “not” to a legal case

2. Software analyzes the documents deemed “important” - along a number of dimensions - to find other documents also likely to be important

Why Not Just Review Documents Manually?

Reviewing all case documents is often not realistic.

● Producing party: ○ Often have document collections so large

that it’s impractical to look at every document individually in responsiveness review

● Party receiving large productions: ○ Faced with similar problem○ Need to prioritize documents for review, even

if planning on looking at each one eventually

Because Predictive Coding Saves Time!● The software can examine each document, to identify the

ones most likely to be responsive to your case ● That information can then be used to prioritize and speed

up manual review — and sometimes even eliminate the need for it

Why Not Just Search for Documents?

Reviewers can search for documents, so why do you need predictive coding?

Because Predictive Coding Does More!

Searching:● Finds documents

related by small portions of content

Predictive Coding:● Finds similar documents

holistically, based on full content and context

● Learns patterns and features that distinguish important from irrelevant documents

Replacing that kind of nuanced seeking with search terms would be almost impossible.

Because Searching Misses A Lot!

Imagine you’re at the library, looking for information on impressionist art:● If you search the library catalog for

“impressionism,” you’ll find books with “impressionism” in the name, or listed as the book’s subject

● What you likely won’t find are broader surveys of art history — of which impressionism is a part — or books about specific artists like Manet

Because Searching Misses A Lot!● Searching legal documents is just like that: it only turns

up a small portion of what would be relevant

● Using predictive coding is like consulting an experienced librarian: ○ Her encyclopedic knowledge saves you from having

to read every book to find just the one you want○ Her recommendations consider many parts of a

book (plot, setting, tone, genre, era, and more)

Because Predictive Coding Is Thorough!

● Predictive coding doesn’t just look at a document’s most unique words or its recipients

● It looks at all of the document text and metadata

This is a powerful approach that makes it far superior to either search or manual review.

● Questions about Predictive Coding? Read more here: http://blog.everlaw.com/2014/10/03/predictive-coding-what-is-it-and-why-use-it

● Want to see Predictive Coding in action? Schedule a walk-through: http://www.everlaw.com/contact_form.html

Learn More!