Crafting a More Effective Keyword Search
"Federal Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm called for "careful advance planning by persons qualified to design effective search methodology" and testing search methods for quality assurance. "The party selecting the methodology must be prepared to explain the rationale for the method chosen to the court, demonstrate that it is appropriate for the task, and show that it was properly implemented," he declared.
Then federal Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck issued a "wake up call to the bar," excoriating counsel for proposing thousands of artless search terms:
'Electronic data discovery requires cooperation between opposing counsel and transparency in all aspects of preservation and production of electronically stored information. Moreover, where counsel are using keyword searches for retrieval of ESI, they at a minimum must carefully craft the appropriate keywords, with input from custodians as to the words and abbreviations they use, and the proposed methodology must be quality control tested to ensure accuracy in retrieval and elimination of 'false positives.' It is time that the bar -- even lawyers who did not come of age in the computer era -- understand this.'"
Then federal Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck issued a "wake up call to the bar," excoriating counsel for proposing thousands of artless search terms:
'Electronic data discovery requires cooperation between opposing counsel and transparency in all aspects of preservation and production of electronically stored information. Moreover, where counsel are using keyword searches for retrieval of ESI, they at a minimum must carefully craft the appropriate keywords, with input from custodians as to the words and abbreviations they use, and the proposed methodology must be quality control tested to ensure accuracy in retrieval and elimination of 'false positives.' It is time that the bar -- even lawyers who did not come of age in the computer era -- understand this.'"
