Probably Reasonable Search in eDiscovery

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to estimate the likelihood of uncovering additional relevant documents in eDiscovery, aiding courts in assessing the reasonableness of search efforts.

Contribution

It presents a novel probabilistic approach to evaluate the potential for finding more relevant information beyond current search results in eDiscovery.

Findings

Low probability of undiscovered relevant facts at moderate recall levels

Model validated on two data sets

Supports judicial assessment of search effort reasonableness

Abstract

In eDiscovery, a party to a lawsuit or similar action must search through available information to identify those documents and files that are relevant to the suit. Search efforts tend to identify less than 100% of the relevant documents and courts are frequently asked to adjudicate whether the search effort has been reasonable, or whether additional effort to find more of the relevant documents is justified. This article provides a method for estimating the probability that significant additional information will be found from extended effort. Modeling and two data sets indicate that the probability that facts/topics exist among the so-far unidentified documents that have not been observed in the identified documents is low for even moderate levels of Recall.