Modernizing Document Review with AI and Linguistic Modeling

The traditional approach to document review and fact-finding was wasting valuable time and resources for a telecommunications company and their outside counsel during a complex litigation. The usual search and review methods were also failing to surface the critical insights counsel needed to prepare their litigation strategy and minimize risk in a timely manner.  

Lighthouse experts stepped in and transformed the process by integrating AI and linguistic modeling to streamline review, reduce costs, and get critical insights into the hands of the case team, faster.

The Problem: An Inefficient and Ineffective Workflow

The contract review team had initially been tasked with analyzing and categorizing each document for various factors, including:

• Responsiveness
• 17 Issue Codes  
• 4 Levels of Confidentiality
• Privilege
• Hot/Key Status

The Result: Linear Review at a Snail’s Pace

A sluggish and expensive review process that drained resources—while burying counsel under a mountain of redundant documents that delayed key decisions and increased the risk of unwanted surprises.

The Pivot: A Better Approach to Fact-Finding and Doc Review

Rather than continue with the traditional approach, Lighthouse experts built tailored AI classifiers to tackle specific review tasks—e.g., confidentiality, privilege, and identifying key documents related to specific issues. The goal of this modern, more strategic approach was to help counsel remove large swaths of documents from the review queue, speed up review on the documents that remained, and get critical insights into the hands of the case team faster.

The Result: Accelerating Review with AI

Lighthouse AI and linguistics accurately classified confidentiality and privilege for the vast majority of documents (see above) and enabled Lighthouse search experts to quickly identify 1.6K unique key documents across a variety of areas for the case team.

For the 120K documents that remained in the review queue, the review team was able to double their review pace because they could focus solely on reviewing for responsiveness.

Read on to learn the details about how Lighthouse experts used AI and linguistic modeling to tackle specific classifications and fact-finding tasks.

Confidentiality Classifications

All responsive documents needed to be classified into one of four distinct confidentiality levels:

• Outside Counsel Eyes Only (OCEO)
• Confidential – Restricted​
• Confidential​
• Not-Confidential​

To ensure precision in the AI model, Lighthouse experts collaborated closely with outside counsel to define the specific criteria for each level. With this input, they built tailored linguistic classifiers to automate the confidentiality classification. Samples were sent to outside counsel to test and refine the classifier before Lighthouse deployed it on the remaining document population.  

The result: Outside counsel only needed to review a total of 630 documents to validate and refine the Lighthouse AI linguistic classifier. From there, the classifier was able to accurately determine the correct confidentiality level for all responsive documents within the 590K document population. Lighthouse experts then continued to deploy the classifier on all newly collected documents.  

Identifying Telecom Agreements  

To protect confidentiality, as well as mitigate risks to the company, it was critical to identify all instances of specific types of agreements at issue in the litigation. Unfortunately, there was no definitive list of the parties involved in those agreements.  

To tackle this challenge, Lighthouse search experts created advanced linguistic models specifically tailored to recognize the unique language patterns within the types of agreement at issue.

The result: Lighthouse linguistic models identified all 15K+ agreements within the document population. Lighthouse experts de-duplicated the agreements before delivering the comprehensive set to the case team well before production deadlines.

Key Document Identification and Trial Prep

A dedicated Lighthouse search team used a combination of linguistic modeling, advanced search technology, and unique search expertise to find the critical documents the case team needed to see across a variety of areas.

The result: Lighthouse’s small team of search experts identified 1.6K unique and critical documents and excerpts of important language buried within the large document tranche.

They quickly provided these documents to the case team in small, curated deliveries for a variety of fact-finding and trial preparation needs, including:

• 8 essential key document topic areas
• Third-party production gap analysis
• Documents showing evidence of fraud and malfeasance
• Deposition preparation kits
• Ad-hoc case team search requests as the case evolved

The speed at which Lighthouse experts were able to find critical information—in combination with the value and uniqueness of the information they found—ensured that the case team could make quicker, more informed decisions throughout the remainder of case and reduce the risk of wanted surprises.

Efficiency, Accuracy, and Strategic Value with Lighthouse AI and Linguistic Modeling

By deploying AI and linguistic modeling, Lighthouse not only enhanced the efficiency and accuracy of document review but also empowered the legal team to make more strategic decisions faster. This modern, data-driven approach resulted in significant cost savings, time reductions, and an improved case strategy, minimizing risks and accelerating the pace toward trial preparation.