The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), a must-see resource on many aspects of e-discovery, announces its new White Paper Series, in which it offers the views and opinions of experts in the domain. These white papers are evaluated prior to publication and are available for free. The first White Paper, by Gene Eames, David J. Kessler and Andrea L. D’Ambra, focuses on how best to select proper criteria during the discovery process, and makes the case for an iterative approach. In face of ever increasing amounts of data to search in, this approach comes as an answer to the dilemma of, on one hand, containing discovery costs and, on the other hand, demonstrating the use of a defensible discovery process, the goal of which being that no relevant material should remains unfound. It refers to the Sedona guidelines, stating that automated search tools results should be assessed, measured and documented, eventually requiring an iterative process. The documentation should be done bearing in mind that it may serve to demonstrate, with empirical evidence, that a search term is under- or over- inclusive – or both. In sum, the core of the iterative approach

“By testing the data (both what is selected and what is not selected), one can mitigate the risk of systematically missing data and create documentation regarding the reasonableness of the process, while at the same time reduce the amount of money wasted on processing and reviewing irrelevant documents.”

Its pertinence flows from the understanding that discovery is a global process, and that while costs can be shift further away, it may be cost efficient to shift them in the first steps of the process: the iterative approach to selection criteria may well be such an example.