Our outside counsel kept missing a key deadline for document production.

The problem was they needed to review over 15,000 emails from a specific executive in Atlanta. I suggested we use a simple keyword filter for 'budget' and 'approval' first, before the full review. This cut the initial batch down to about 2,000 emails that were actually relevant. It saved us a week and kept the court schedule on track. Has anyone else used a basic filter like this to speed up early discovery?

3 comments

3 Comments

jade2712mo ago

We did the same thing last year with a contract review... just filtered for "termination" and "renewal" in a huge vendor inbox. Went from 10k messages to maybe 800.

mason_ward2mo ago

Do this every single time. It's the only way to handle a massive data dump without blowing the budget. Start with the obvious keywords tied to the case issue, just like you and @jade271 did. That first filter isn't about being perfect, it's about getting rid of the clear junk fast. You can always run a second, more detailed search on the smaller set. Skipping this step means paying lawyers to read thousands of emails about lunch plans.

elizabetht563d ago

Honestly, is it bad that I feel personally attacked by that lunch plan email comment? Ngl, my first keyword filter in a messy data dump is usually "please find attached" just so I don't have to scroll through someone's vacation photo thread from 2017. Tbh, that first pass is basically digital dumpster diving - you're just trying to pull out the obvious junk before billing anyone for the privilege of reading it. I once filtered a client's email dump for "pizza" and still ended up with 40 results, which tells you a lot about their office culture but nothing useful about the case. Yeah, the lawyers might roll their eyes at a rough first cut, but trust me, they'll be less cranky than when you hand them 5,000 irrelevant threads about someone's cousin's wedding.