Acceptance of Predictive Coding Spreads to the UK

Following the precedent set by Da Silva Moore¹ in 2012, courts across the United States have adopted the use of predictive coding (sometimes referred to as "technology assisted review") as a means of reducing the time and cost of discovery. Other jurisdictions around the world are also beginning to embrace this evolving technology.

In a recent United Kingdom decision, Pyrrho Investments², the High Court held that predictive coding could be used in UK cases going forward. That case involved an action for breach of fiduciary duty with tens of millions of pounds at stake. One of the claimants had kept back-up tapes that contained millions of potentially relevant documents. Even after deduplication was performed and search terms were run, 3.1 million documents remained to be reviewed. Both parties agreed to the use of predictive coding, pending court approval. Master Matthews held that the Civil Procedure Rules did not preclude the use of the technology. This was the