education | e-Discovery Team

Do TAR the Right Way with “Hybrid Multimodal Predictive Coding 4.0”

October 8, 2018

The term “TAR” – Technology Assisted Review – as we use it means document review enhanced by active machine learning. Active machine learning is an important tool of specialized Artificial Intelligence. It is now widely used in many industries, including Law. The method of AI-enhanced document review we developed is called Hybrid Multimodal Predictive Coding 4.0. Interestingly, reading these words in the new Sans Forgetica font will help you to remember them.

We have developed an online instructional program to teach our TAR methods and AI infused concepts to all kinds of legal professionals. We use words, studies, case-law, science, diagrams, math, statistics, scientific studies, test results and appeals to reason to teach the methods. To balance that out, we also make extensive use of photos and videos. We use right brain tools of all kinds, even subliminals, special fonts, hypnotic images and loads of hyperlinks. We use emotion as another teaching tool. Logic and Emotion. Sorry Spock, but this multimodal, holistic approach is more effective with humans than an all-text, reason-only approach of Vulcan law schools.

We even try to use humor and promote student creativity with our homework assignments. Please remember, however, this is not an accredited law school class, so do not expect professorial interaction. Did we mention the TAR Course is free?

By the end of study of the TAR Course you will know and remember exactly what Hybrid Multimodal means. You will understand the importance of using all varieties of legal search, for instance: keywords, similarity searches, concept searches and AI driven probable relevance document ranking. That is the Multimodal part. We use all of the search tools that our KL Discovery document review software provides.

The Hybrid part refers to the partnership with technology, the reliance of the searcher on the advanced algorithmic tools. It is important than Man and Machine work together, but that Man remain in charge of justice. The predictive coding algorithms and software are used to enhance the lawyers, paralegals and law tech’s abilities, not replace them.

By the end of the TAR Course you will also know what IST means, literally Intelligently Spaced Training. It is our specialty technique of AI training where you keep training the Machine until first pass relevance review is completed. This is a type of Continuous Active Learning, or as Grossman and Cormack call it, CAL. By the end of the TAR Course you should also know what a Stop Decision is. It is a critical point of the document review process. When do you stop the active machine teaching process? When is enough review enough? This involves legal proportionality issues, to be sure, but it also involves technological processes, procedures and measurements. What is good enough Recall under the circumstances with the data at hand? When should you stop the machine training?

We can teach you the concepts, but this kind of deep knowledge of timing requires substantial experience. In fact, refining the Stop Decision was one of the main tasks we set for ourself for the e-Discovery Team experiments in the Total Recall Track of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Text Retrieval Conference in 2015 and 2016. We learned a lot in our two years. I do not think anyone has spent more time studying this in both scientific and commercial projects than we have. Kudos again to KL Discovery for helping to sponsor this kind of important research by the e-Discovery Team.

Working with AI like this for evidence gathering is a newly emerging art. Take the TAR Course and learn the latest methods. We divide the Predictive Coding work flow into eight-steps. Master these steps and related concepts to do TAR the right way.

Pop Quiz: What is one of the most important considerations on when to train again?

One Possible Correct Answer: The schedule of the humans involved. Logistics and project planning is always important for efficiency. Flexibility is easy to attain with the IST method. You can easily accommodate schedule changes and make it as easy as possible for humans and “robots” to work together. We do not literally mean robots, but rather refer to the advanced software and the AI that arises from the machine training as an imiginary robot.

1 Comment | Lawyers Duties, Related Legal Webs, Review, Search | Tagged: best practices, computer assisted review, document review, education, legal search, machine learning, predictive coding, search, tar, technology | Permalink
Posted by Ralph Losey

Responding Party’s Complaints of Financial Burden of Document Review Were Unsupported by the Evidence, Any Evidence

August 5, 2018

One of the largest cases in the U.S. today is a consolidated group of price-fixing cases in District Court in Chicago. In Re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, 290 F. Supp. 3d 772 (N.D. Ill. 2017) (order denying motions to dismiss and discussing the case). The consolidated antitrust cases involve allegations of a wide spread chicken price-fixing. Big Food Versus Big Chicken: Lawsuits Allege Processors Conspired To Fix Bird Prices (NPR 2/6/18).

The level of sales and potential damages are high. For instance, in 2014 the sales of broiler chickens in the U.S. was $32.7 Billion. That’s sales for one year. The classes have not been certified yet, but discovery is underway in the consolidated cases.

The Broiler Chicken case is not only big money, but big e-discovery. A Special Master (Maura Grossman) was appointed months ago and she developed a unique e-discovery validation protocol order for the case. See: TAR for Smart Chickens, by John Tredennick and Jeremy Pickens that analyzes the validation protocol.

Maura was not involved in the latest discovery dispute where, Agri Stats, one of many defendants, claimed a request for production was too burdensome as to it. The latest problem went straight to the presiding Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert who issued his order on July 26, 2018. In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litig., 2018 WL 3586183 (N.D. Ill. 7/26/18).

Agri Stats had moved for a protective order to limit an email production request. Agri Stats claimed that the burden imposed was not proportional because it would be too expensive. Its lawyers told Judge Gilbert that it would cost between $1,200,000 and $1,700,00 to review the email using the keywords negotiated.

Fantasy Hearing

I assume that there were hearings and attorney conferences before the hearings. But I do not know that for sure. I have not seen a transcript of the hearings with Judge Gilbert. All we know is that defense counsel told the judge that under the keywords selected the document review would cost between $1,200,000 and $1,700,000, and that they had no explanation on how the cost estimate was prepared, nor any specifics as to what it covered. Although I was not there, after four decades of doing this sort of work, I have a pretty good idea of what was or might have been said at the hearing.

This representation of million dollar costs by defense counsel would have gotten the attention of the judge. He would naturally have wanted to know how the cost range was calculated. I can almost hear the judge say from the bench: “$1.7 Million Dollars to do a doc review. Yeah, ok. That is a lot of money. Why so much counsel? Anyone?” To which the defense attorneys said in response, much like the students in Ferris Beuller’s class:

“. . . . . .”

Yes. That’s right. They had Nothing. Just Voodoo Economics

Well, Judge Gilbert’s short opinion makes it seem that way. In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litig., 2018 WL 3586183 (N.D. Ill. 7/26/18).

If a Q&A interchange like this happened, either in a phone hearing, or in person, then the lawyers must have said something. You do not just ignore a question by a federal judge. The defense attorneys probably did a little hemming and hawing, conferred among themselves, and then said something to the judge like: “We are not sure how those numbers were derived, $1.2M to $1.5M, and will have to get back to you on that question, Your Honor.” And then, they never did. I have seen this kind of thing a few times before. We all try to avoid it. But it is even worse to make up a false story, or even present an unverified story to the judge. Better to say nothing and get back to the judge with accurate information.

Discovery Order of July 26, 2018

Here is a quote from Judge Gilbert’s Order so you can read for yourself the many questions the moving party left unanswered (detailed citations to record removed; graphics added):

Agri Stats represents that the estimated cost to run the custodial searches EUCPs propose and to review and produce the ESI is approximately $1.2 to $1.7 million. This estimated cost, however, is not itemized nor broken down for the Court to understand how it was calculated. For example, is it $1.2 to $1.7 million to review all the custodial documents from 2007 through 2016? Or does this estimate isolate only the pre-October 2012 custodial searches that Agri Stats does not want to have to redo, in its words? More importantly, Agri Stats also admits that this estimate is based on EUCPs’ original proposed list of search terms. But EUCPs represent (and Agri Stats does not disagree) that during their apparently ongoing discussions, EUCPs have proposed to relieve Agri Stats of the obligation to produce various categories of documents and data, and to revise the search terms to be applied to data that is subject to search. Agri Stats does not appear to have provided a revised cost estimate since EUCPs agreed to exclude certain categories of documents and information and revised their search terms. Rather, Agri Stats takes the position that custodial searches before October 3, 2012 are not proportional to the needs of the case — full stop — so it apparently has not fully analyzed the cost impact of EUCPs’ revised search terms or narrowed document and data categories.

The Court wonders what the cost estimate is now after EUCPs have proposed to narrow the scope of what they are asking Agri Stats to do. (emphasis added) EUCPs say they already have agreed, or are working towards agreement, that 2.5 million documents might be excluded from Agri Stats’s review. That leaves approximately 520,000 documents that remain to be reviewed. In addition, EUCPs say they have provided to Agri Stats revised search terms, but Agri Stats has not responded. Agri Stats says nothing about this in its reply memorandum.

EUCPs contend that Agri Stats’s claims of burden and cost are vastly overstated. The Court tends to agree with EUCPs on this record. It is not clear what it would cost in either time or money to review and produce the custodial ESI now being sought by EUCPs for the entire discovery period set forth in the ESI Protocol or even for the pre-October 3, 2102 period. It seems that Agri Stats itself also does not know for sure what it would have to do and how much it would cost because the parties have not finished that discussion. Because EUCPs say they are continuing to work with Agri Stats to reduce what it must do to comply with their discovery requests, the incremental burden on what Agri Stats now is being asked to do is not clear.

For all these reasons, Agri Stats falls woefully short of satisfying its obligation to show that the information [*10] EUCPs are seeking is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost.

Estimations for Fun and Profit

In order to obtain a protective order you need to estimate the costs that will likely be involved in the discovery from which you seek protection. Simple. Moreover, it obviously has to be a reasonable estimate, a good faith estimate, supported by the facts. The Brolier Chicken defendant, Agri Stats, came up with an estimate. They got that part right. But then they stopped. You never do that. You do not just throw up a number and hope for the best. You have to explain how it was derived. Blushing at any price higher than that is not a reasonable explanation, but is often honest.

Be ready to explain how you came up with the cost estimate. To break down the total into its component parts and allow the “Court to understand how it was calculated.” Agri Stats did not do that. Instead, they just used a cost estimate of between $1.2 to $1.7 million. So of course Agri Stats’ motion for protective order was denied. The judge had no choice because no evidence to support the motion was presented, neither factual or expert evidence. There was no need for Judge Gilbert to go into the secondary questions of whether expert testimony was also needed and whether it should be under Rule 702. He got nothing remember. No explanation for the $1.7 Million.

The lesson of the latest discovery order in Broiler Chicken is pretty simple. In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litig., 2018 WL 3586183 (N.D. Ill. 7/26/18). Get a real cost estimate from an expert. The expert needs to know and understand document review, search and costs of review. They need to know how to make reasonable search and retrieval efforts. They also need to know how to make reliable estimates. You may need two experts for this, as not all have expertise in both fields, but they are readily available. Many can even talk pretty well too, but not all! Seriously, everybody knows we are the most fun and interesting lawyer subgroup.

The last thing to do is skimp on an expert and just pull out a number from your hat (or your vendor’s hat) and hope for the best.

This is federal court, not a political rally. You do not make bald assertions and leave the court wondering. Facts matter. Back of the envelope type guesses are not sufficient, especially in a big case like Broiler Chicken. Neither are guesstimates by people who do not know what they are doing. Make disclosure and cooperate with the requesting party to reach agreement. Do not just rush to the courthouse hoping to dazzle with smoke and mirrors. Bring in the experts. They may not dazzle, but they can get you beyond the magic mirrors.

Case Law Background

Judge Paul S. Grewal, who is now Deputy G.C. of Facebook, said quoting The Sedona Conference in Vasudevan: “There is no magic to the science of search and retrieval: only mathematics, linguistics, and hard work.” Vasudevan Software, Inc. v. Microstrategy Inc., No. 11-cv-06637-RS-PSG, 2012 US Dist LEXIS 163654 (ND Cal Nov 15, 2012) (quoting The Sedona Conference, Best Practices Commentary on the Use of Search and Information and Retrieval Methods in E-Discovery, 8 Sedona Conf. J. 189, 208 (2007). There is also no magic to the art of estimation, no magic to calculating the likely range of cost to search and retrieve the documents requested. Judge Grewal refused to make any decision in Vasudevan without expert assistance, recognizing that this area is “fraught with traps for the unwary” and should not be decided on mere arguments of counsel.

Judge Grewal did not address the procedural issue of whether Rule 702 should govern. But he did cite to Judge Facciola’s case on the subject, United States v. O’Keefe, 537 F. Supp. 2d 14 (D.D.C. 2008). Here Judge Facciola first raised the discovery expert evidence issue. He not only opined that experts should be used, but that the parties should follow the formalities of Evidence Rule 702. That governs things such as whether you should qualify and swear in an expert and follow otherwise follow Rule 702 on their testimony. I discussed this somewhat in my earlier article this year, Judge Goes Where Angels Fear To Tread: Tells the Parties What Keyword Searches to Use.

Judge Facciola in O’Keffe held that document review issues require expert input and that this input should be provided with all of the protections provided by Evidence Rule 702.

Given this complexity, for lawyers and judges to dare opine that a certain search term or terms would be more likely to produce information than the terms that were used is truly to go where angels fear to tread. This topic is clearly beyond the ken of a layman and requires that any such conclusion be based on evidence that, for example, meets the criteria of Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Accordingly, if defendants are going to contend that the search terms used by the government were insufficient, they will have to specifically so contend in a motion to compel and their contention must be based on evidence that meets the requirements of Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Conclusion

In the Boiler Chicken Antitrust Order of July 27, 2018, a motion for protective order was denied because of inadequate evidence of burden. All the responding party did was quote a price-range, a number presumably provided by an expert, but there was no explanation. More evidence was needed, both expert and fact. I agree that generally document review cost estimation requires opinions of experts. The experts need to be proficient in two fields. They need to know and understand the science of document search and retrieval and the likely costs for these services for a particular set of data.

Although all of the formalities and expense of compliance with Evidence Rule 702 may be needed in some cases, it is probably not necessary in most. Just bring your expert to the attorney conference or hearing. Yes, two experts may well disagree on some things, probably will, but the areas of agreement are usually far more important. That in turn makes compromise and negotiation far easier. Better leave the technical details to the experts to sort out. That follows the Rule 1 prime directive of “just, speedy and inexpensive.” Keep the trial lawyers out of it. They should instead focus and argue on what the documents mean.

2 Comments | Lawyers Duties, New Rules, Review, Search | Tagged: best practices, computer assisted review, discovery, document review, education, evidence, junk science, legal profession, legal search, PROPORTIONALITY, science, search, tar, technology, vendors | Permalink
Posted by Ralph Losey

WHY I LOVE PREDICTIVE CODING: Making Document Review Fun Again with Mr. EDR and Predictive Coding 4.0

December 3, 2017

Many lawyers and technologists like predictive coding and recommend it to their colleagues. They have good reasons. It has worked for them. It has allowed them to do e-discovery reviews in an effective, cost efficient manner, especially the big projects. That is true for me too, but that is not why I love predictive coding. My feelings come from the excitement, fun, and amazement that often arise from seeing it in action, first hand. I love watching the predictive coding features in my software find documents that I could never have found on my own. I love the way the AI in the software helps me to do the impossible. I really love how it makes me far smarter and skilled than I really am.

I have been getting those kinds of positive feelings consistently by using the latest Predictive Coding 4.0 methodology (shown right) and KrolLDiscovery’s latest eDiscovery.com Review software (“EDR”). So too have my e-Discovery Team members who helped me to participate in TREC 2015 and 2016 (the great science experiment for the latest text search techniques sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology). During our grueling forty-five days of experiments in 2015, and again for sixty days in 2016, we came to admire the intelligence of the new EDR software so much that we decided to personalize the AI as a robot. We named him Mr. EDR out of respect. He even has his own website now, MrEDR.com, where he explains how he helped my e-Discovery Team in the 2015 and 2015 TREC Total Recall Track experiments.

Bottom line for us from this research was to prove and improve our methods. Our latest version 4.0 of Predictive Coding, Hybrid Multimodal IST Method is the result. We have even open-sourced this method, well most of it, and teach it in a free seventeen-class online program: TARcourse.com. Aside from testing and improving our methods, another, perhaps even more important result of TREC for us was our rediscovery that with good teamwork, and good software like Mr. EDR at your side, document review need never be boring again. The documents themselves may well be boring as hell, that’s another matter, but the search for them need not be.

How and Why Predictive Coding is Fun

Steps Four, Five and Six of the standard eight-step workflow for Predictive Coding 4.0 is where we work with the active machine-learning features of Mr. EDR. These are its predictive coding features, a type of artificial intelligence. We train the computer on our conception of relevance by showing it relevant and irrelevant documents that we have found. The software is designed to then go out and find all other relevant documents in the total dataset. One of the skills we learn is when we have taught enough and can stop the training and complete the document review. At TREC we call that the Stop decision. It is important to keep down the costs of document review.

We use a multimodal approach to find training documents, meaning we use all of the other search features of Mr. EDR to find relevant ESI, such as keyword searches, similarity and concept. We iterate the training by sample documents, both relevant and irrelevant, until the computer starts to understand the scope of relevance we have in mind. It is a training exercise to make our AI smart, to get it to understand the basic ideas of relevance for that case. It usually takes multiple rounds of training for Mr. EDR to understand what we have in mind. But he is a fast learner, and by using the latest hybrid multimodal IST (“intelligently spaced learning“) techniques, we can usually complete his training in a few days. At TREC, where we were moving fast after hours with the Ã-Team, we completed some of the training experiments in just a few hours.

After a while Mr. EDR starts to “get it,” he starts to really understand what we are after, what we think is relevant in the case. That is when a happy shock and awe type moment can happen. That is when Mr. EDR’s intelligence and search abilities start to exceed our own. Yes. It happens. The pupil then starts to evolve beyond his teachers. The smart algorithms start to see patterns and find evidence invisible to us. At that point we sometimes even let him train himself by automatically accepting his top-ranked predicted relevant documents without even looking at them. Our main role then is to determine a good range for the automatic acceptance and do some spot-checking. We are, in effect, allowing Mr. EDR to take over the review. Oh what a feeling to then watch what happens, to see him keep finding new relevant documents and keep getting smarter and smarter by his own self-programming. That is the special AI-high that makes it so much fun to work with Predictive Coding 4.0 and Mr. EDR.

It does not happen in every project, but with the new Predictive Coding 4.0 methods and the latest Mr. EDR, we are seeing this kind of transformation happen more and more often. It is a tipping point in the review when we see Mr. EDR go beyond us. He starts to unearth relevant documents that my team would never even have thought to look for. The relevant documents he finds are sometimes completely dissimilar to any others we found before. They do not have the same keywords, or even the same known concepts. Still, Mr. EDR sees patterns in these documents that we do not. He can find the hidden gems of relevance, even outliers and black swans, if they exist. When he starts to train himself, that is the point in the review when we think of Mr. EDR as going into superhero mode. At least, that is the way my young e-Discovery Team members likes to talk about him.

By the end of many projects the algorithmic functions of Mr. EDR have attained a higher intelligence and skill level than our own (at least on the task of finding the relevant evidence in the document collection). He is always lighting fast and inexhaustible, even untrained, but by the end of his training, he becomes a search genius. Watching Mr. EDR in that kind of superhero mode is what makes Predictive Coding 4.0 a pleasure.

The Empowerment of AI Augmented Search

It is hard to describe the combination of pride and excitement you feel when Mr. EDR, your student, takes your training and then goes beyond you. More than that, the super-AI you created then empowers you to do things that would have been impossible before, absurd even. That feels pretty good too. You may not be Iron Man, or look like Robert Downey, but you will be capable of remarkable feats of legal search strength.

For instance, using Mr. EDR as our Iron Man-like suits, my e-discovery Ã-Team of three attorneys was able to do thirty different review projects and classify 17,014,085 documents in 45 days. See 2015 TREC experiment summary at Mr. EDR. We did these projects mostly at nights, and on weekends, while holding down our regular jobs. What makes this crazy impossible, is that we were able to accomplish this by only personally reviewing 32,916 documents. That is less than 0.2% of the total collection. That means we relied on predictive coding to do 99.8% of our review work. Incredible, but true.

Using traditional linear review methods it would have taken us 45 years to review that many documents! Instead, we did it in 45 days. Plus our recall and precision rates were insanely good. We even scored 100% precision and 100% recall in one TREC project in 2015 and two more in 2016. You read that right. Perfection. Many of our other projects attained scores in the high and mid nineties. We are not saying you will get results like that. Every project is different, and some are much more difficult than others. But we are saying that this kind of AI-enhanced review is not only fast and efficient, it is effective.

Yes, it’s pretty cool when your little AI creation does all the work for you and makes you look good. Still, no robot could do this without your training and supervision. We are a team, which is why we call it hybrid multimodal, man and machine.

Having Fun with Scientific Research at TREC 2015 and 2016

During the 2015 TREC Total Recall Track experiments my team would sometimes get totally lost on a few of the really hard Topics. We were not given legal issues to search, as usual. They were arcane technical hacker issues, political issues, or local news stories. Not only were we in new fields, the scope of relevance of the thirty Topics was never really explained. (We were given one to three word explanations in 2015, in 2016 we got a whole sentence!) We had to figure out intended relevance during the project based on feedback from the automated TREC document adjudication system. We would have some limited understanding of relevance based on our suppositions of the initial keyword hints, and so we could begin to train Mr. EDR with that. But, in several Topics, we never had any real understanding of exactly what TREC thought was relevant.

This was a very frustrating situation at first, but, and here is the cool thing, even though we did not know, Mr. EDR knew. That’s right. He saw the TREC patterns of relevance hidden to us mere mortals. In many of the thirty Topics we would just sit back and let him do all of the driving, like a Google car. We would often just cheer him on (and each other) as the TREC systems kept saying Mr. EDR was right, the documents he selected were relevant. The truth is, during much of the 45 days of TREC we were like kids in a candy store having a great time. That is when we decided to give Mr. EDR a cape and superhero status. He never let us down. It is a great feeling to create an AI with greater intelligence than your own and then see it augment and improve your legal work. It is truly a hybrid human-machine partnership at its best.

I hope you get the opportunity to experience this for yourself someday. The TREC experiments in 2015 and 2016 on recall in predictive coding are over, but the search for truth and justice goes on in lawsuits across the country. Try it on your next document review project.

Do What You Love and Love What You Do

Mr. EDR, and other good predictive coding software like it, can augment our own abilities and make us incredibly productive. This is why I love predictive coding and would not trade it for any other legal activity I have ever done (although I have had similar highs from oral arguments that went great, or the rush that comes from winning a big case).

The excitement of predictive coding comes through clearly when Mr. EDR is fully trained and able to carry on without you. It is a kind of Kurzweilian mini-singularity event. It usually happens near the end of the project, but can happen earlier when your computer catches on to what you want and starts to find the hidden gems you missed. I suggest you give Predictive Coding 4.0 and Mr. EDR a try. To make it easier I open-sourced our latest method and created an online course. TARcourse.com. It will teach anyone our method, if they have the right software. Learn the method, get the software and then you too can have fun with evidence search. You too can love what you do. Document review need never be boring again.

Caution

One note of caution: most e-discovery vendors, including the largest, do not have active machine learning features built into their document review software. Even the few that have active machine learning do not necessarily follow the Hybrid Multimodal IST Predictive Coding 4.0 approach that we used to attain these results. They instead rely entirely on machine-selected documents for training, or even worse, rely entirely on random selected documents to train the software, or have elaborate unnecessary secret control sets.

The algorithms used by some vendors who say they have “predictive coding” or “artificial intelligence” are not very good. Scientists tell me that some are only dressed-up concept search or unsupervised document clustering. Only bona fide active machine learning algorithms create the kind of AI experience that I am talking about. Software for document review that does not have any active machine learning features may be cheap, and may be popular, but they lack the power that I love. Without active machine learning, which is fundamentally different from just “analytics,” it is not possible to boost your intelligence with AI. So beware of software that just says it has advanced analytics. Ask if it has “active machine learning“?

It is impossible to do the things described in this essay unless the software you are using has active machine learning features. This is clearly the way of the future. It is what makes document review enjoyable and why I love to do big projects. It turns scary to fun.

So, if you tried “predictive coding” or “advanced analytics” before, and it did not work for you, it could well be the software’s fault, not yours. Or it could be the poor method you were following. The method that we developed in Da Silva Moore, where my firm represented the defense, was a version 1.0 method. Da Silva Moore v. Publicis Groupe, 287 F.R.D. 182, 183 (S.D.N.Y. 2012). We have come a long way since then. We have eliminated unnecessary random control sets and gone to continuous training, instead of train then review. This is spelled out in the TARcourse.com that teaches our latest version 4.0 techniques.

The new 4.0 methods are not hard to follow. The TARcourse.com puts our methods online and even teaches the theory and practice. And the 4.0 methods certainly will work. We have proven that at TREC, but only if you have good software. With just a little training, and some help at first from consultants (most vendors with bona fide active machine learning features will have good ones to help), you can have the kind of success and excitement that I am talking about.

Do not give up if it does not work for you the first time, especially in a complex project. Try another vendor instead, one that may have better software and better consultants. Also, be sure that your consultants are Predictive Coding 4.0 experts, and that you follow their advice. Finally, remember that the cheapest software is almost never the best, and, in the long run will cost you a small fortune in wasted time and frustration.

Conclusion

Love what you do. It is a great feeling and sure fire way to job satisfaction and success. With these new predictive coding technologies it is easier than ever to love e-discovery. Try them out. Treat yourself to the AI high that comes from using smart machine learning software and fast computers. There is nothing else like it. If you switch to the 4.0 methods and software, you too can know that thrill. You can watch an advanced intelligence, which you helped create, exceed your own abilities, exceed anyone’s abilities. You can sit back and watch Mr. EDR complete your search for you. You can watch him do so in record time and with record results. It is amazing to see good software find documents that you know you would never have found on your own.

Predictive coding AI in superhero mode can be exciting to watch. Why deprive yourself of that? Who says document review has to be slow and boring? Start making the practice of law fun again.

Here is the PDF version of this article, which you may download and distribute, so long as you do not revise it or charge for it.

3 Comments | informaton, knowledge, Lawyers Duties, Review, Search, Technology, VENDORS, wisdom | Tagged: best practices, computer assisted review, document review, education, legal search, machine learning, predictive coding, robot, search, tar, technology, truth, vendors, wisdom | Permalink
Posted by Ralph Losey

Proportionality Φ and Making It Easy To Play “e-Discovery: Small, Medium or Large?” in Your Own Group or Class

November 26, 2017

Every judge who has ever struggled with discovery issues wishes that the lawyers involved had a better understanding of proportionality, that they had spent more time really thinking about how it applies to the requisites of their case. So too does every lawyer who, like me, specializes in electronic discovery. As Chief Justice Roberts explained in his 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary on the new rules on proportionality:

The amended rule states, as a fundamental principle, that lawyers must size and shape their discovery requests to the requisites of a case. Specifically, the pretrial process must provide parties with efficient access to what is needed to prove a claim or defense, but eliminate unnecessary or wasteful discovery. The key here is careful and realistic assessment of actual need.

Proportionality and reasonableness arise from conscious efforts to realistically assess actual need. What is the right balance in a particular situation? What are the actual benefits and burdens involved? How can you size and shape your discovery requests to the requisites of a case?

There is more to proportionality than knowing the rules and case law, although they are a good place to start. Proportionality is a deep subject and deserves more than black letter law treatment. 2015 e-Discovery Rule Amendments: Dawning of the “Goldilocks Era” (e-discoveryteam.com, 11/11/15) (wherein I discuss proportionality, the Golden Ratio or perfect proportionality, aka Φ, which is shown in this graphic and much more, including the spooky “coincidence” at a CLE with Judge Facciola and the audience vote). Also see: Giulio Tononi, Phi Φ, a Voyage from the Brain to the Soul (Pantheon Books, 2012) (book I’m rereading now on consciousness and integrated information theory, another take on Phi Φ).

We want everyone in the field to think about proportionality. To be conscious of it, not just have information about it. What does proportionality really mean? How does it apply to the e-discovery tasks that you carry out every day? How much is enough? Too much? Too burdensome? Too little? Not enough? Why?

What is a reasonable effort? How do you know? Is there perfect proportionality? One that expresses itself in varying ways according to the facts and circumstances? Does Law follow Art? Is Law an Art? Or is it a Science? Is there Beauty in Law? In Reason? There is more to proportionality than meets the eye. Or is there?

Getting people to think about proportionality is one of the reasons I created the Hive Mind game that I announced in my blog last week: “e-Discovery: Small, Medium of Large?”

This week’s blog continues that intention of getting lawyers to think about proportionality and the requisites of their case. It concludes with a word document designed to make it easier to play along with your own group, class or CLE event. What discovery activities required in a Big Case are not necessary in a Small Case, or even a Medium Sized case? That is what requires thought and is the basis of the game.

Rules of Federal Procedure

Proportionality is key to all discovery, to knowing the appropriate size and shape of discovery requests in order to fit the requisites of a case. Reading the rules that embody the doctrine of proportionality is a good start, but just a start. The primary rule to understand is how proportionality effects the scope of relevance as set forth in Rule 26(b)(1), FRCP:

Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit.

But you also need to understand how it impacts a lawyer’s overall duty to supervise a discovery request and response as set forth in Rule 26(g). See Rule 26(g)(1)(B)(iii), FRCP:

neither unreasonable nor unduly burdensome or expensive, considering the needs of the case, prior discovery in the case, the amount in controversy, and the importance of the issues at stake in the action.

Many other rules have concepts of proportionality either expressly or implicitly built in, including Rule 26(b)(2)(B) (not reasonably accessible); Rule 26(b)(2)(C)(i) (cumulative); Rule 1 (just, speedy and inexpensive), Rule 34, Rule 37(e), Rule 45.

Case Law

Reading the key cases is also a help, indispensable really, but reading what the judges say is not enough either. Still you need to keep up with the fast growing case law on proportionality. See for instance the fine collection by K&L Gates at: https://www.ediscoverylaw.com/?s=proportionality and the must-read, The Sedona Conference Commentary on Proportionality_May 2017. Here a few of my favorites cases:

In re Bard IVC Filters Prods. Liab. Litig., D. Ariz., No. MDL 15-02641-PHX DGC, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126448 (D. Ariz. Sept. 16, 2016). In this must-read opinion District Judge David G. Campbell, who was the chair of the Rules Committee when the 2015 amendments were passed, takes both lawyers and judges to task for not following the new rules on proportionality. He then lays it all out in a definitive manner.
In re Takata Airbag Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 15-02599-CIV-Moreno, MDL No. 5-2599 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 1, 2016). Judge Moreno quotes Chief Justice Roberts’ comments in the 2015 Year-End Report that the newly amended Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 26 “crystalizes the concept of reasonable limits in discovery through increased reliance on the common-sense concept of proportionality.” 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.
Hyles v. New York City, No. 10 Civ. 3119 (AT)(AJP), 2016 WL 4077114 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 1, 2016) (Judge Peck: “While Hyles may well be correct that production using keywords may not be as complete as it would be if TAR were used, the standard is not perfection, or using the “best” tool, but whether the search results are reasonable and proportional. Cf. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(g)(1)(B)”)
Johnson v Serenity Transportation, Case No. 15-cv-02004-JSC (N.D. Cal. October 28, 2016) (“… a defendant does not have discretion to decide to withhold relevant, responsive documents absent some showing that producing the document is not proportional to the needs of the case.”)
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co., No. 12-CV-0630-LHK (PSG), 2013 WL 4426512, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116493 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 14, 2013) (“But there is an additional, more persuasive reason to limit Apple’s production — the court is required to limit discovery if “the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit.” This is the essence of proportionality — an all-to-often ignored discovery principle. Because the parties have already submitted their expert damages reports, the financial documents would be of limited value to Samsung at this point. Although counsel was not able to shed light on exactly what was done, Samsung’s experts were clearly somehow able to apportion the worldwide, product line inclusive data to estimate U.S. and product-specific damages. It seems, well, senseless to require Apple to go to great lengths to produce data that Samsung is able to do without. This the court will not do.“)
PTSI, Inc. v. Haley, 2013 WL 2285109 (Pa. Super. Ct. May 24, 2013) (“… it is unreasonable to expect parties to take every conceivable step to preserve all potentially relevant data.”)
Kleen Products, LLC, et al. v. Packaging Corp. of Amer., et al., Case: 1:10-cv-05711, Document #412 (ND, Ill., Sept. 28, 2012).

Also see: The Top Twenty-Two Most Interesting e-Discovery Opinions of 2016 (e-discoveryteam.com, 1/2/17) (the following top ranked cases concerned proportionality: 20, 18, 17, 15, 14, 11, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1); and, Good, Better, Best: a Tale of Three Proportionality Cases – Part Two (e-discoveryteam.com 4/8/12) (includes collection of earlier case law).

Sedona Commentary

The Sedona Conference Commentary on Proportionality_May 2017 is more than a collection of case law. It includes commentary hashed out between competing camps over many years. The latest 2017 version includes Six Principles that are worthy of study. They can certainly help you in your own analysis of proportionality. The cited case law in the Commentary is structured around these six principles.

THE SEDONA CONFERENCE PRINCIPLES OF PROPORTIONALITY

Principle 1: The burdens and costs of preserving relevant electronically stored information should be weighed against the potential value and uniqueness of the information when determining the appropriate scope of preservation.

Principle 2: Discovery should focus on the needs of the case and generally be obtained from the most convenient, least burdensome, and least expensive sources.

Principle 3: Undue burden, expense, or delay resulting from a party’s action or inaction should be weighed against that party.

Principle 4: The application of proportionality should be based on information rather than speculation.

Principle 5: Nonmonetary factors should be considered in the proportionality analysis.

Principle 6: Technologies to reduce cost and burden should be considered in the proportionality analysis.

Conclusion

Proportionality is one of those deep subjects where you should think for yourself, but also be open and listen to others. It is possible to do both, although not easy. It is one of those human tricks that will make us hard to replace by smart machines. The game I have created will help you with that. Try out the Small, Medium or Large? proportionality game by filling out the online polls I created.

But, you can do more. You can lead discussions at your law firm, company, class or CLE on the subject. You can become an e-discovery proportionality Game-Master. You can find out the consensus opinion of any group. You can observe and create statistics of how the initial opinions change when the other game players hear each others opinions. That kind of group interaction can create the so-called hive-effect. People often change their mind until a consensus emerges.

What is the small, medium or large proportionality consensus of your group? Even if you just determine majority opinion, and do not go through an interactive exercise, you are learning something of interest. Plus, and here is the key thing, you are giving game players a chance to exercise their analytical skills.

To help you to play this game on your own, and lead groups to play it, I created a Word Document that you are welcome to use.

Game-Master-Hive-Mind_e-Discovery_Proportionality_GAME