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| Steven Lerner covers legal technology for Law360 Pulse |
The headlines of the announcements from e-discovery companies sometimes hide the fact that the tools are not fully available at the moment. Experts at legal tech conferences have told me that this is bothering some law firms looking for immediate solutions now.
Some generative AI e-discovery tools remain confined to the beta testing phase, making it difficult to distinguish between tools that are readily accessible and those that are still restricted to certain customers. This is leaving some law firms dismayed over the excitement of announcements of generative AI tools that are still far from being used.
Although there may be some discontent about the limited availability of these tools, I believe it is good that e-discovery software companies conduct thorough testing of generative AI platforms. We've seen complications with the use of generative AI in the legal system, including lawyers facing discipline over submitting briefs riddled with fake cases created by these tools, so better safe than sorry.
Here's the current state of availability of generative AI e-discovery tools as of March 2024.
General Availability
The investigations and e-discovery software company Merlin Search Technologies publicly released its generative AI platform DiscoveryPartner in November.
Merlin's tool connects to large language models, or LLMs, from OpenAI and Anthropic, to help users find, analyze and review documents. LLMs are machine learning models capable of generating text.
John Tredennick, Merlin's CEO and founder, told Law360 Pulse in an email that the company is in the process of deploying the next generation of its LLM-integrated platform, which should be able to work with larger batches of records.
"The second generation of our LLM architecture should be live in a few weeks," Tredennick wrote. "It takes GenAI technology to a new level of scalability and will now work with large documents, transcripts, text messages and medical records."
CS Disco made its generative AI tool called Cecilia generally available in December. The Texas-based company announced in March 2023 that it had developed Cecilia and rolled it out to select users in July.
Cecilia uses generative AI to help legal professionals reduce manual tasks, particularly in complex litigation matters. Two current features of the tool include Cecilia Q&A, a fully sourced AI fact locator, and Cecilia Timelines, which allows attorneys to create timelines of a matter.
Disco said that it is planning to add more features, such as deposition summaries, with a potential release later this year.
Finally, e-discovery company Lighthouse launched its AI tool, called Lighthouse AI Privilege Review, in January. The tool uses both predictive and generative AI to help users identify, redact and log privileged information. It is available for all clients.
Fernando Delgado, the director of AI and analytics at Lighthouse, told Law360 Pulse in an email that the company has been using LLMs to build AI tools for the past five years.
"Over the past year we've begun integrating generative AI to extend and enhance these industry leading predictive AI capabilities. … Lighthouse AI Privilege Review now goes beyond identifying your set of privilege documents by auto-populating key fields within the set of privilege documents that require privilege logging," Delgado wrote.
Limited Availability and Testing
The e-discovery generative AI space could become more crowded in 2024 as several e-discovery companies develop generative AI tools that are still being tested today with hopes of a wider release later this year.
In September, Relativity introduced its generative AI tool called Relativity aiR for Review. The Illinois-based company made its platform available on a limited basis in January with a plan to launch general availability this summer.
Relativity also plans to expand the functionality of its generative AI tool with use cases such as privilege review and case strategy.
The data risk management software provider Exterro introduced its AI tool, called Exterro Assist, in January. The tool helps users search and retrieve contextually relevant information. A representative from Exterro said that the tool is still in beta with customers and anticipated a full release in the second quarter.
The investigation and litigation platform Everlaw released EverlawAI Assistant in July as part of a closed beta program. An open beta program for all customers launched in January.
Everlaw plans on making its generative AI tool generally available later this year, although no specific date has been determined.
A representative from the company told Law360 Pulse that 52 customers from law firms, corporations and government agencies are in the beta program to offer feedback for the tool.
Data management software company Hanzo announced the development of a generative AI tool called Spotlight AI in November. The tool, which uses LLMs from IBM's AI studio, helps users determine whether certain electronic communications are relevant to litigation or an investigation.
A representative from Hanzo told Law360 Pulse in February that the company is testing the tool with several clients and plans to expand its availability in the second quarter.
The e-discovery and litigation software company Nextpoint Inc. is developing transformer models, a type of deep learning model used in forms of generative AI, with plans to integrate the technology into its existing workflow. Nextpoint anticipates a release later this year.
"We are developing and testing our proof of concept for a generative transformer model and starting to build a beta test user group from our existing client base," Nextpoint CEO Rakesh Madhava wrote to Law360 Pulse.
The investigative analytics and intelligence software Nuix is also developing a generative AI tool. A representative from Nuix told Law360 Pulse that the company plans on demonstrating early versions of the tool at its annual user conference later in the calendar year.
Legal tech company Casepoint has not released its generative AI capabilities to the market yet because it is still evaluating, testing and updating its approach.
"While we see the substantial value/potential of LLMs in e-discovery and other use cases, the needs of our enterprise clients require us to place a greater emphasis and premium on AI reliability, risk and guardrails," Amit Dungarani, the vice president of partnerships and strategic initiatives with Casepoint, wrote to Law360 Pulse.
Finally, legal tech company Reveal introduced its generative AI capability called 'Ask' in January. The company said that the tool allows users to delve into case documents. Reveal plans to make the tool available sometime this quarter. A representative from Reveal did not respond to a request for information on the timing of the release.
--Additional reporting by Sarah Martinson and Matt Perez. Editing by Robert Rudinger.
Update: The article has been updated with the name of Casepoint's spokesperson.
Technically Speaking is a column by Steven Lerner. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Portfolio Media Inc. or any of its respective affiliates.
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