The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) Advisory Council recently published their 2023 eDiscovery predictions.  Not unsurprisingly, there was significant focus on the application of AI and machine learning, along with the explosion of data types and sources which will need to be considered going forward.

The Future:

Some of their more interesting observations included how would blockchain transactions be considered from an eDiscovery perspective, something which has recently come to the fore due to failure of FTX and other crypto exchanges.  Along with when we will see something like Chat GPT being built into eDiscovery software, to potentially assist with document review.

Take Care:

Along with my colleagues, I’m always intrigued by the latest technological advances and how we can best apply these to the ever increasing and disparate data sets which we need to analyse and present. I would however sound a note of caution, that for now none of these advances can solve your problems at the click of a button and that the understanding, implementation and quantifying of the outcome remains key to the successful use of the latest “box of tricks.”

Suggestions:

I would also suggest that with the significant focus in the eDiscovery community on the technology needed to address the problems which present themselves, there is a danger that the basic principles of project management may well get overlooked. These I would argue are more critical to the successful delivery of a project, than whichever flavour of AI or analytics you deploy.

When preparing for your next eDiscovery project, consider how much time is spent discussing and then delivering on the following:

• Alignment of all teams to a common vision and goal;
• Comprehensive planning, which spans the entire project;
• Proactive and open communications;
• Project reporting, including scope and cadence;
• Project monitoring and course correction, if and more likely when, scope creep occurs;
• Cost control; and
• Ongoing risk management.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and the level of detail you would go into would typically be driven by the size and complexity of the matter.  However, if these steps are ignored or just paid “lip service” to, there is no technology in existence which is going to deliver a successful outcome.