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40 O c t O b e r 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m Francisco-based Recommind, says some law firms may spend too much time focusing on the production side of e-discovery, or getting documents ready to be turned over to the court or opposing counsel. Instead, the empha- sis should be on digging deep for the documents and data that really matter. It's about context, not quantity. "People often think there is artificial intelligence [in the software] to determine relevancy, but all it's doing is taking an attorney's judgment and amplifying it," he says. Vakof suggests thinking about the differences between keyword search and concept search. For example, some e-discovery products may be really good at finding mentions of a specific name or term in a vast number of files, but concept searches would include more related ideas. Imagine looking not only for the keyword "terminate" but "fire," "dismiss," or similar concepts. In both cases, there can be false positives, but if you use products long enough the results might improve, Vakof adds. "It's like learning to train a voice command system. It's not that accurate at first, then [later] it works OK." What may make e-discovery even more challenging over the next few years is the rise of what's called "big data." Most e-discovery products and services were designed with structured information such as e-mail messages in mind, but big data refers to the mass of unstructured information on social media and within databases that is growing sharply in vol- ume, variety, and velocity. "The impact of big data on e-discovery isn't theoretical, it's absolute," says Chris Grossman, senior vice president of enterprise applications with Rand Secure Data in Framingham, Mass. "Companies view information as being structured or unstructured because of its complexity, but the law doesn't." Wortzman says she has noticed more vendors at legal conferences creating new versions of their products to address big data, but databases based on proprietary software such as enterprise resource plan- ning tools from SAP are another story. "I can't produce that to the other side, because they don't have the software to "The impact of big data on e-discovery isn't theoretical, it's absolute. companies view information as being structured or unstructured because of its complexity, but the law doesn't." CHRIs GRossMAN, Rand secure Data LEgaL rEport/e-DiScoveRY LIVE EVENTS DESIGNED FOR CORPORATIONS AND LAW FIRMS Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute is the leading provider of CLE events for the legal industry. Below you'll find upcoming live conferences that might be of interest to you and your team. You can register for yourself and any members of your department. Registration can be applied to anyone in your company – a different person could attend each event. Drafting Clearer Contracts October 9 – Minneapolis, MN October 30– Washington DC November 6 – New York , NY Decmeber 11 – San Francisco, CA $895 Northeast M&A/Private Equity Forum December 3 - Boston, MA $595 2014 Corporate Whistleblowing Forum September 30 - New York $595 The 2014 Thomson Reuters Supply Chain Sustainability Summit October 15 – New York , NY $795 DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE Individual Discount – Receive 15% off any individual program. Use promo code 15CORPORATE at checkout. Group Discounts – We have great group discounts available for you and your colleagues. Call 1-800-308-1700 for more information or to register. The more events you purchase, the more you save: ȕ1VSDIBTFSFHJTUSBUJPOTHFUPGG ȕ1VSDIBTFSFHJTUSBUJPOTHFUPGG 2 WAYS TO REGISTER westlegaledcenter.com 2 1.800.308.1700 1 WestLegal_CL_Sep_14.indd 1 2014-09-12 12:06 PM

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