July 21, 2022

 Bhanu Relhan

data breach discovery document review machine learning artificial intelligence data breach response

More than ever, document reviews must achieve speed and accuracy. In litigation, a well-executed review eliminates ever having to seek extensions or exceed budgets. In data breach reviews, ‘the need for speed’ is critical to meet breach-notification deadlines and control costs.

Document reviews involve much more than reviewing documents. Technical know-how and technology are table stakes. Optimal results require process planning, project management, and a particular mindset.

Planning begins with a philosophy. At Elevate, we develop and deliver unique solutions based on the details of the matter at hand, and the Elevate team has deep experience devising customised workflows to meet the specific demands of a particular project.

At the outset, we use AI, machine learning, and data science to analyse and assess the review’s document universe. This provides a high-level view that enables our customers to make informed decisions about structuring the review and adjusting their strategy for the matter at hand. Our assessment also lets us eliminate documents that aren’t of interest, resulting in immediate cost savings for our customers.

Another key step is mapping the document universe to an action plan and then resourcing the plan. Because Elevate offers 24-hour coverage across multiple geographies with contiguous follow-the-sun work teams, we can match resources to customers’ needs to achieve the speed required.

By using technology before the reviewers begin their review, our Project Managers zero in on key, hot, and troublesome documents from the start. We also calibrate our team’s understanding of the review parameters with our customers’ objectives. These sorts of activities maximise efficiencies and accuracy. With continuous calibration, review accuracy typically reaches or exceeds 85% within three days of project start, rising to 95% after the first week.

At the start of the actual review, we arm our project managers with checklists, a clear escalation matrix, and other material. Once the document review is underway, strong project management is critical and continuous improvement is a key component of our approach. Daily team briefings combined with real-time training and feedback reduce re-work. Continuous improvement throughout a matter, our lawyer project managers – with an average of 7 years of experience – refine the review process and ensure adherence to a proven, repeatable, and defensible approach that centers on a customer-specific playbook. We achieve accountability using coordinated, purposeful, and seamless reviews.

The final piece is our experienced, knowledgeable, and motivated legal professionals. If you talk to a member of Elevate’s 200-person dedicated document review team, you’ll find an engaged lawyer with the right background and who works exclusively on document review. Elevate’s team is certified in RelOne, Everlaw, and Brainspace. Not only is every member of the team a specialist by matter type, but they also leverage the institutional knowledge of customers they acquire and apply it to subsequent reviews. Project-based performance evaluations motivate the team to strive for greater efficiency and accuracy across matters.

The combination of these elements – process, project management, and mindset – enables Elevate to achieve the speed, accuracy, and quality customers require.