Coding Documents during Discovery or Legal Review

[jon.pearse]

Background
In earlier versions of Intella the capability to code documents in terms of legal review or e-discovery was limited. Because of the limited capability, such an exercise was difficult to undertake and caused limitations for the export of any coded metadata by the reviewer.

There were two main capability limitations with the earlier versions of Intella. The first is that tagging was performed 'flat' or on a single level basis. The second limitation is that the reviewer could not enter any metadata for a document into the case, apart from creating tags for each item of metadata the reviewer wanted to assign to a document. Such metadata for a legal review could be noting that a document is privileged, it is relevant, it is part of a certain issue etc. Given the large number of tags that can exist in a case, you can see how difficult it would be have been to isolate the coded metadata from the other data contained in the exported tag information.

With version 1.9 we have added features to our tagging capability that will let the reviewer setup a case so that documents can be reviewed and coded accordingly. Further, the columns which hold the coded metadata can be exported to a load file.

Setting up the case for review and coding
Once you have completed the filtering processes (e.g. keyword searches, date range filters, document types, de-duplication etc.) and have the dataset tagged and ready for review, we need to think about what coding options to include for the reviewer. For example, if the discovery was regarding a dispute between an employer and employee in regards to time management you may want to include the following coding options:

• Privileged with Yes or No answers
• Relevant with Yes or No answers
• Issues - This field may contain several elements related to the issues. In this case these may be Contract, Time Sheets, Matters and Clients. Note that one document may be related to several elements and will need to be coded accordingly.

 

Using the example above, lets setup our tagging structure. The top level tags or Tag Group in this case will be Privileged, Relevant and Issues.

• Click on the Tag facet then right click anywhere in the white space where the tags are shown and select 'Create new tag'.
• Enter Privileged in the Tag name field then click the OK button.
• Do the same for the terms Relevant and Issues.

 

The three tags should look as shown below when complete.

The next step is adding child tags to the top level tags. These child tags will represent the options that the reviewer will select.

• Again click on the Tag facet but this time right click on the Issues tag then select Create new tag inside "Issues". Type Client and click the OK button.
• Do the same and add Contract, Matters and Time Sheets in the Issues tag.
• Once done do the same for the Privileged tag and add Yes and No as child tags.
• Lastly do the same for the Relevant tag where you also add Yes and No as child tags.

 

The child tags should be sitting under their parent tag as shown in the image below. If it does then the tagging options have been setup.

Now we need to show the new top level tags in the Details table. Click on the button under the Timeline button which shows additional columns to add to the Details table. There you will see the three top level tags which we created. Place a check in the checkboxes so the columns can be shown in the Details table.

Once done close the Column Options window and you will see the three new columns in the Details table.

Document Review and Coding
When a document is being reviewed, the reviewer will now be able to apply coding to the document by way of tagging. In the example below, the reviewer has tagged (or effectively coded) this document as follows:

 

• The document is not Privileged
• The document is Relevant
• The document relates to the following Issues: Client and Matters

Once the tagging is complete the coded metadata can be seen in the Details table. These three new columns and the metadata in those columns can also be exported in a load file.

Note: This article is designed to help you gain knowledge of how to use Intella 1.9 to code documents during a legal review. You should note that there are limitations to coding documents using this method. These limitations include the following:

• It is not possible to specify that certain tags are mutually exclusive. For example, a reviewer can code a particular document as both privileged and not privileged.
• You cannot set mandatory tagging before moving to the next document. For example, a reviewer can move to the next document without applying any coding to a specific document.

 

We are looking at improving this functionality and in a future version we will provide the reviewer with a dedicated and configurable coding panel to be used for reviewing and coding documents.

 

[jon.pearse]

Hi all,

 

Just a quick update to Intella's coding functionality. The up and coming 1.9.1 version of Intella Connect has dedicated document batching and subjective coding functionality built in. These features were designed to assist with the legal review of documents during eDiscovery engagements.

 

I will post a link to a video which shows these new features in about a week. 1.9.1 is scheduled for release in early April.

 

Jon

[jon.pearse]

Here is the link to the new features video for Connect 1.9.1. This video demonstrates the new Batching and Coding features which are included in this release.

 

https://youtu.be/FoGDxbGm_A4