Bloomberg BNA | 10.9.17
Duke Law EDRM sets sights on Technology Assisted Review Guidance
by Michael Greene
An organization that develops models and standards for electronic discovery has set its sights on developing guidance on technology assisted review (TAR)—a process that involves using machine learning models to help classify documents.
EDRM (Electronic Discovery Reference Model), which is part of the Duke Law Center for Judicial Stud-ies, is working with with members of the plaintiffs’ and defense bar, as well the judiciary, in drafting, editing, and reviewing best practices or protocols that are in-tended to provide more direction on how to use TAR.
TAR can potentially help companies in litigation more efficiently identify responsive documents and re-duce their discovery costs. Yet, nearly five years after the first written court decision approving the use of TAR for managing document production, many attor-neys and their clients still view the the process as a too much of a ‘‘black box’’ and lack confidence that it will timely produce reliable results.
‘‘There seems to be an unnatural fear of TAR by some parties but it has been proven as a very effective tool given case size, timeline and financial resources,’’ said Jim Waldron, Director of EDRM Duke Law, told Bloomberg BNA in email. EDRM’s hope is ‘‘that adding our presence in the dialog would be helpful to a better understanding of TAR,’’ he added.
