Linked – Do You Test Your Search Terms Before Proposing Them to Opposing Counsel?
“If you don’t, you should. When litigation is anticipated, it’s never too early to begin collecting potentially responsive data and assessing it by performing searches and testing the results. However, if you wait until after the meet and confer with opposing counsel, it can be too late.On the very first day we introduced eDiscovery Daily, we discussed the danger of using wildcards in your searches (and how they can retrieve vastly different results than you intended). Let me recap that example.
Several years ago, I provided search strategy assistance to a client that had already agreed upon several searches with opposing counsel. One search related to mining activities, so the attorney decided to use a wildcard of “min*” to retrieve variations like “mine”, “mines” and “mining”.
That one search retrieved over 300,000 files with hits.”
Really, how can you agree to search terms without knowing what the terms will return? It’s like going to court and asking your witness a question that you don’t know the answer to already, and don’t they teach you not to do that in law school?
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