What Judges Are Really Saying About Technology Assisted Review

Since the first judicial opinion endorsing the use of Technology Assisted Review (or TAR) was written by Judge Andrew J. Peck in 2012, an entire legal industry has grown up on the premise of streamlining the document review process in discovery – that is, taking a repetitive task traditionally performed entirely by attorneys and introducing the concept of computer assistance to increase efficiency and improve consistency. And while some of the marketing efforts surrounding TAR make it seem TAR can replace attorney review wholesale, some attorneys considering the use of TAR in litigation or in response to regulatory inquiries are more focused on ignoring the "buzz" and instead have zeroed in on what judges have actually said (and held) regarding TAR.