An EDRM working group has completed draft guidelines for the use of technology-assisted review (TAR) tools in discovery.
The TAR project team, led by Mike Quartararo of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, Matthew Poplawski of Winston Strawn, and Adam Strayer of Paul Weiss, includes more than 50 lawyers, e-discovery experts, and technology leaders. Their draft guidelines document explains the TAR process by providing definitions for important terms and detailing the six steps in the TAR workflow: Collection and Analysis, Training the TAR Engine, Operating the TAR Engine, QC and Testing, Finishing, and Validation. The TAR team effort is augmented by a team of Duke Law students, who researched TAR and reviewed the draft guidelines.
“The TAR guidelines are the result of a remarkable collaboration between attorneys, litigation support professionals, technology and machine learning experts, and a dedicated group of Duke Law students,” said Jim Waldron, director of EDRM. “As we head into the public review period, we invite everyone in the industry to read the draft and contribute comments and questions. This is not an academic exercise, but rather a set of practical guidelines that will be referenced by e-discovery teams, attorneys, and judges in the course of discovery.”
Although the initial draft guidelines focus specifically on TAR, the document was written with the intent that, as technology continues to change, the guidelines also will apply to future iterations of AI beyond the TAR process. The draft guidelines will be released for EDRM member review in March; a final draft will then be released for public review later this spring.
In addition, a team of lawyers and judges, which formed after a recent Duke Law Distinguished Lawyers conference on TAR, is drafting best practices to provide a protocol for whether and under what conditions TAR should be used. Together, the TAR guidelines and best practices provide a strong record for the bench and bar, which legitimizes and supports the use of TAR in appropriate cases. The best practices are expected to be available later this year.
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