AI for lawyers: separating the four things being sold
A practical taxonomy distinguishes retrieval and drafting assistants, legal research tools, contract analysis products, and discovery classification systems by their distinct controls.
Section
Technology
Search, technology-assisted review and the machine learning underneath the marketing.
Early case assessment: deciding what a matter will cost before committing to it
Early case assessment turns sampled or collected data into concrete estimates of scope, exposure, review burden, and proportionality, giving parties a stronger basis for early decisions.
Processing: the stage that decides what reviewers will ever see
Processing determines what reviewers can find, what search terms can reach, and whether exceptions, OCR errors, and date changes leave a defensible record of collection.
Keyword search vs. concept search: where each one fails
Keyword search exposes literal matches and blind spots, while concept search reaches related language but demands harder explanations; defensible review depends on combining both through negotiation and testing.
TAR, predictive coding and CAL: what the courts have actually said
Federal cases establish that TAR is generally permitted in appropriate matters, while defensibility turns on a documented review workflow rather than the algorithm alone.