Understanding TAR is still important, especially for new lawyers. Zviad Guruli discusses 10 things new lawyers should know about TAR here!

The article, titled (obviously) 10 Things New Lawyers Should Know About Technology-Assisted Review was published on the American Bar Association (ABA) site here. But since you need a subscription to access it, Zviad, who is Director, eDiscovery and Data Analytics at WilmerHale, obtained permission to provide a copy (which I’m hosting here).

If you’re an experienced lawyer with experience in eDiscovery, you know what Technology-Assisted Review (TAR) is. But new lawyers probably don’t. Zviad explains it this way:

“So, what is TAR? At its core, it is the use of technology to help lawyers search for and review electronically stored information (ESI) subject to discovery. Instead of having human reviewers read every document in a collection one by one, TAR uses software to learn what a relevant document looks like and then applies that learning across the entire population to reduce the volume requiring human review.”

So, what are 10 things new lawyers should know about TAR? Here’s the first one (and it will probably be useful advice for experienced lawyers too!):

Start with the Legal Standards and Agreements

Before you choose any technology, understand the rules of the road. Review the governing case law, any applicable local rules or standing orders, and—critically—any ESI protocol or agreement with the requesting party. These documents may dictate what you can and cannot do, whether you need to disclose your use of TAR, and what validation you will need to demonstrate. The workflow you design should live within these guardrails.

That’s just one of ten things to know. But, as Zviad notes “here is the most important lesson: (and it’s not part of the 10 things): “running an effective and defensible TAR workflow is not a solo act. It takes a multidisciplinary team. A successful effort typically brings together discovery law practitioners who understand the legal standards, technical and legal workflow managers who design and steer the process, data processing and scripting architects who handle the mechanics of the data, and review managers and reviewers who carry out the day-to-day work.

You do not need to master every one of these roles. What you do need is enough fluency to ask the right questions, coordinate across disciplines, and stand behind the workflow when it counts. Learn the vernacular, understand the process, and trust your team.”

Great advice, not just for TAR, but for mastering any technology.

Again, you can check out Zviad’s article here on the ABA site and here if you don’t have a subscription.

So, what do you think? Do you feel you’ve mastered TAR? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Image created using DALL-E 3, using the term “robot lawyer wearing a suit holding up both hands with five fingers on each hand”.

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.