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?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade27111d 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_ward11d 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.