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PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | FALL 2017
The problem doesn't stop there. Lawyers
also spend more time than they should figuring
out what changes might have been made to
a document since they last looked at it—and
by whom. On top of this, too much effort is
inevitably devoted toward keeping email messages,
documents and other digital work product properly
organized and filed in the right place.
Fortunately, new innovations in information
management technology are leveraging
artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning
and big data analytics to address these friction
points, helping legal professionals spend less
time on administrative tasks and more time on
strategic client work. Firms are using the latest
technological innovations to work smarter rather
than harder.
Smart Search
What if search were personalized to the user, so it could
anticipate user needs? Through machine-learning-
based analysis of all previous interactions for each
user, a system can be taught to understand the people,
clients and maer documents most relevant to the user
conducting the search. The system can then use this
information to prioritize search results, yielding less
cluer and higher relevance.
For example, suppose your firm employs two
aorneys named Jane — one of whom you frequently
work with on documents and one whom you don't. By
analyzing your past behavior and interactions — and
understanding the context of who works with whom —
the system will know to only present you with search
results related to the Jane you work with when you
perform a search for "documents + Jane."
by Peter Wallqvist
Despite the productivity enhancements enabled by modern document and work
product management technology, lawyers still often find themselves wasting time and
energy trying to do something as simple as find a specific document.
