Clearwell Introduces Ground-Breaking E-Discovery Search Capabilities With Transparent Search

New Testing, Sampling, and Iterative Refinement Capabilities Enable More Defensible Best Practices for E-Discovery Search

International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Conference
Booth #1318

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—August 26, 2008—Clearwell Systems, Inc., a leader in Intelligent E-Discovery, today announced “Transparent Search,” a set of ground-breaking capabilities in the processing, analysis, and review of electronically stored information (ESI). Available with version 4.0 of the Clearwell E-Discovery Platform®, Transparent Search enables corporations and law firms to defensibly employ best practices during the e-discovery search process.

“Cases like Victor Stanley, O’Keefe, and Equity Analytics demonstrate that, while keyword searches are useful for coping with the dramatic rise in the volume of ESI, there are limitations with today’s keyword search technologies,” said Deena Coffman, Discovery Director, Johnson & Johnson. “These shortcomings are addressed by Clearwell’s Transparent Search which provides attorneys and litigation support professionals with the ability to test the efficacy of their keyword lists and refine their word selection in preparation for 26(f) conferences. This added level of insight dramatically reduces processing and review cost while bolstering defensibility to the new levels now being mandated by current case law.”

“Black Box” Search vs. Transparent Search
In several recent decisions (e.g., Victor Stanley v. Creative Pipe), the courts have required parties to show how search results are obtained. This presents significant challenges for common search tools which take a “black box” approach whereby keywords are fed into one end, and results are produced on the other with no visibility into how or why a query found the documents it produced. Furthermore, enterprise search technologies make it difficult to iteratively refine searches through use of best practice testing and sampling techniques, and tend to produce over-inclusive or under-inclusive results.

In contrast, Clearwell’s Transparent Search delivers a new set of capabilities that enables a more defensible e-discovery search process, and reduces the over- and under-inclusiveness of keyword search. The major components of Transparent Search are as follows:

1. Search Preview: Provides visibility into matching keyword variations for wildcard and stemming searches prior to running a search. Users can selectively include relevant variations or exclude false positive variations in their search query, removing irrelevant documents from search results.
2. Search Filters: In real-time, users can filter results by individual queries or variations, and sample the filtered documents to evaluate the effectiveness of their search. This also provides more opportunities for users to rapidly identify false positive documents prior to review.
3. Search Report: Creates a comprehensive report that documents all search criteria and provides detailed analytics of the results for both the overall search and the individual queries within the search. The report tracks search terms that were included and excluded during search preview providing a defensible audit trail of search refinement decisions.
4. Multiple Query Search: Delivers the ability to run large numbers of queries simultaneously and provides reporting for both the overall search and the individual queries within the search. Large numbers of queries can be tested in minutes not days, dramatically decreasing the turnaround time needed to iterate and evaluate the effectiveness of keyword searches.

“Recent case law is driving a sea change in e-discovery search, and forcing enterprises and law firms to ‘show their work’ in the courtroom,” said Kamal Shah, vice president of product management and marketing, Clearwell Systems. “Transparent Search is the first technology that caters to the unique requirements of lawyers and litigation support professionals by enabling testing, sampling, and iterative refinement of keyword searches. As a result, legal teams can now devise more defensible search strategies, better collaborate on keyword search terms, and dramatically reduce false positives and irrelevant documents prior to review.”

Clearwell Systems will be showcasing its Transparent Search capabilities at the Annual International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Educational Conference to be held from August 25 to 28, 2008 in Grapevine, Texas.

To learn more about Clearwell’s Transparent Search, see a product demonstration or download the Transparent Search white paper.

About Clearwell Systems
Clearwell Systems is transforming the way enterprises perform e-discovery in response to litigation, regulatory inquiries, and corporate investigations. By automating the processing, analysis and review of all electronically stored information, Clearwell enables enterprises to accelerate early case assessments, lower processing costs, reduce review workload, and gain control of e-discovery. Clearwell was ranked a Top 5 e-discovery software provider overall as well as a Top 5 e-discovery provider for processing, analysis, review, and production in the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey. For more information, visit www.clearwellsystems.com or read the E-discovery 2.0 blog at: http://www.clearwellsystems.com/e-discovery-blog/.