Thinking Analytically

What could be better than paying lawyers less money for more work? (Sorry Pat.)

In today’s world, litigation typically involves the review of thousands, if not millions, of e-docs. Though shredders can permanently destroy a paper document, past e-mails and e-docs hide in all types of digital nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, many companies have not kept up with the proliferation of e-documents. But that’s no excuse when in the middle of litigation. If there’s a chance that a relevant e-doc exists, it typically must be found, reviewed and deemed relevant or not.

Sean McNee describes a recent case where a small legal team representing a small time inventor was able to use visual analytics to review and analyze the contents of 50 million pages of electronic documentation in just a few months. (Yes, 50 million pages.) He states,

“Visual analytics tools identify nouns and noun phrases in a series of messages, then visually cluster the documents together according to similarities in subject matter”

Apparently some Fortune 1000 companies have seen three-fold productivity increases using visual tools. According to the article, “U.S. corporations spend nearly $5 billion a year analyzing emails for litigation, regulatory requests and investigations.” A three-fold increase in productivity yields signficant benefits!

Read more at BI Review Online.