Doug Austin

Here’s the Fall 2021 Predictive Coding Survey Results from Complex Discovery!: eDiscovery Trends

So many stories, so little time!  Speaking of time, it’s time for results of the Fall 2021 Predictive Coding Technologies and Protocols Survey published on Rob Robinson’s excellent ComplexDiscovery site!  What usage trends have we seen regarding predictive coding platforms and protocols this time?  Let’s take a look.

This is the seventh semi-annual Predictive Coding survey that Rob and ComplexD has conducted.  The seven surveys have provided detailed feedback from 426 legal, business, and technology professionals on the use of specific machine learning technologies in predictive coding. The surveys have also provided insight into the use of those machine learning technologies as part of example technology-assisted review protocols.

This iteration of the survey was open from August 12th through August 23rd and had 42 responders.  As always, it continued to focus on predictive coding technologies, protocols, workflows, and uses across the eDiscovery ecosystem. Here are a few highlights from the Fall 2021 Predictive Coding Technologies and Protocols Survey:

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  • Over 76 percent of respondents were from law firms and software/service providers: Law firm respondents led the way with 47.62%, followed by software/service providers at 28.57%.  This represents a flip from the last survey, where the providers were first and law firms second (with similar percentages).
  • Over a Third of Respondents Once Again Reported Relativity as Their Primary Predictive Coding Platform: 35.71% of respondents, to be exact (down about 1% from last time).  Reveal was next with 21.43% (combining Reveal, Brainspace and NexLP technologies). No other platform received more than 2 votes or 4.76%.
  • More Than 40% of Survey Responders Reported Using Predictive Coding in their eDiscovery Workflow More Than 50% of the Time: 40.48% of respondents, to be exact, almost exactly 2 percent more than last time (again).
  • Active Learning Still Dominant, But Down a Bit: Active Learning was reported as the most used predictive coding technology with 88.10% of responders, but that’s more than 5% less than last time.  Continuous Active Learning® (CAL®) was reported as the most used predictive coding protocol with 83.33% of responders using it in their predictive coding efforts (over 1 percent higher than last time).
  • Almost Everybody Uses TAR for More Than One Thing: 95.24% of responders reported using technology-assisted review in more than one area of data and legal discovery, almost an 8 point rise over last time.

Here is a link to the full survey results on ComplexD.  As usual, Rob provides charts to illustrate all the results that provide lots of additional details, so check it out!

So, what do you think?  Are you surprised by any of the results of the Fall 2021 Predictive Coding Technologies and Protocols Survey?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

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