News | December 8, 2009

Axcelerate eDiscovery v4.0 Achieves Industry's First Completely Defensible Automated Review

Recommind, the leader in search-powered Information Risk Management(IRM) software, recently announced the immediate availability of version 4.0 of its industry-leading Axcelerate eDiscovery platform. With its SmartReview technology, Axcelerate eDiscovery is the first and only solution capable of assessing document responsiveness, privilege and issue relation before the review process begins. With unique Predictive Coding technology and highly defensible random sampling, Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.0 achieves the "holy grail" of document review: the precision and intuition of human judgment with the speed and cost-effectiveness of computerized review. These unique technologies facilitate the only automated non-linear review in the eDiscovery industry, dramatically reducing review costs and timelines while improving the accuracy and consistency of document coding.

"Traditionally, eDiscovery has been a lengthy, linear process in every sense of the word, combining not only a random collection of tools but also an amalgamation of different vendors and consultants," said Stephanie "Tess" Blair, Litigation Partner at Morgan, Lewis and Bockius. "With the challenges of eDiscovery growing more complex and difficult by the day, the process has grown more disjointed and disparate. Recommind changes the game with Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.0, lowering costs and improving overall response times by having advanced software do the heavy lifting, which enables lawyers to do what they do best: win the client's case."

Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.0 is the industry's only review platform with Predictive Coding, which uses a small amount of input from a knowledgeable attorney to automatically prioritize, review and code all documents in a collection. This attorney/computer collaboration produces the most precise, consistent and comprehensive review possible using only a fraction of the time and budget required by traditional, "linear" document review. The result is a revolutionary approach hailed by leading law firms and enterprises as the future of eDiscovery. In one recent case involving 1.5 million documents, Axcelerate eDiscovery's Predictive Coding reduced false positives from 23% to less than 0.3% while completely eliminating false negatives – with only 25% of the document collection ever being reviewed by attorneys.

"Ten years ago discovery was about getting to the key people and facts of a case, and practicing law focused on these core issues; today, with the explosion of ESI, cases can be decided not on their merits, but on who has the deeper pockets in eDiscovery – and the costs of eDiscovery today simply are not sustainable," said Steve Berrent, Director of Complex Case Services at WilmerHale. "After countless hours spent vetting all technology the industry has to offer, we believe we've found a technology in Axcelerate eDiscovery which will revolutionize the way document review is conducted, and that allows us to provide superior service to our clients."

Unlike competing point solutions that rely solely on rudimentary keyword-only search from third parties, Axcelerate eDiscovery boasts Recommind's patented search technology, including concept search, full Boolean and keyword search capabilities. Also new in the v4.0 release is the Search Query Editor, which automatically previews the results of any potential query – regardless of search methodology used – to provide the most accurate and defensible ECA and review capabilities of any solution on the market.

"Most eDiscovery-related innovation continues to occur in the early phases of the process, forcing companies to still leverage pricy third-party review," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "We expect to see more technology that consolidates the various electronic discovery steps including review to help customers accelerate cost reductions while mitigating legal risk. Because it has built its reputation on the back of powerful, intuitive concept search technology, Recommind is well positioned to be a leader in this next wave of eDiscovery solution innovation. Its latest release of Axcelerate eDiscovery, with the Predictive Coding and random sampling features, is a perfect of example of advancing technology across all aspects of electronic discovery.

Additional features of Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.0 include:

  • Automated sampling enables the validation of Predictive Coding results, further ensuring an accurate and defensible review process
  • Search Analysis Reports document the entire search process (including total number of search hits for exact hits, stemmed results and conceptual searches), increasing the defensibility of the overall eDiscovery process
  • SmartTaggers and SmartFilters can be created and customized on a case-by-case basis so that enterprises can review data according to their own terminology and processes
  • A comprehensive production module allows individual documents to be produced multiple times with different redactions and annotations, stamping and associated OCR
  • Enhanced UI gives legal professionals the ability to identify, classify, and code documents more quickly and efficiently, including document families and metadata

"The legacy linear review process simply hasn't kept up with the needs of Fortune 1000 clients and their law firms in today's environment of large data volumes, tight timelines and limited eDiscovery budgets," said Robert Tennant, CEO, Recommind. "With Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.0, we've worked hand-in-hand with leading customers like Wilmer Hale, Morgan Lewis, and Fulbright & Jaworski to take the eDiscovery process to the next level, namely that of defensible automated review. Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.0 is a huge step forward for Recommind and the industry, providing enterprises with instant ECA, review and analysis and law firms with leading technology that supports far more cost-effective services for clients."

About Recommind Inc.
Recommind's search-powered Information Risk Management (IRM) platform automatically accesses, organizes, collects and analyzes large volumes of information from myriad sources to address an enterprise's critical eDiscovery, compliance, email categorization and knowledge management needs. With faster, more accurate access to and greater control over information, organizations can lower risk, improve productivity, increase the value of information assets, and improve competitiveness and profits. Recommind customers include Bertelsmann, BMW, DLA Piper, Eversheds, Novartis, Shearman & Sterling, and Verizon. Recommind is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Washington DC, London, and Bonn, Germany. For more information, visit: www.recommind.com.

SOURCE: Recommind