Decoding Relationships: When “James” Isn’t Just James
Picture this: You’re deep in a document set and come across an email that says, “I talked to James, and he said we should move forward.”
On its face, this looks harmless. But who is James? If James is general counsel, the statement could reflect privileged legal advice. If James is a business manager, it may just be routine corporate chatter. Without more context, even seasoned reviewers might struggle to make the right privilege call.
The Hidden Complexity of Names
Privilege review depends on more than words, it hinges on relationships. People are referenced in many ways: nicknames, misspellings, personal emails, or shorthand identifiers. An attorney might appear in the data as Jim Smith, J. Smith, Smitty (Go Birds!), or “James@lawfirm.com.” Without the ability to connect those variations, privileged communications risk being overlooked.
Even worse, first names alone can be misleading. Think of a dataset with three different James. One a senior counsel, one a project manager, and one a vendor. If the AI or reviewer assumes the wrong James, the privilege call could go in the wrong direction.
Why Traditional Methods Fall Short
Keyword searching is powerless against this kind of nuance. A search for “attorney” or “privileged” won’t capture a casual reference to “James.” Manual review helps, but it’s slow, expensive, and still subject to human error. And when datasets run into the millions of documents, relying solely on humans to untangle these identities becomes impractical.
How AI Connects the Dots
This is where Relativity’s aiR for Privilege brings real value. By combining natural language processing, generative AI, and social network analysis, the system does more than read words on a page. It:
Maps Identities Across Aliases: Variations like “Sarah Wilson,” “S. Wilson,” and “swils@gmail.com” are resolved to a single attorney profile.
Analyzes Communication Patterns: AI recognizes who tends to communicate with whom, and whether those individuals typically act in legal or business roles.
Builds Contextual Profiles: It uses metadata, email domains, and even extracted signatures to determine whether someone is acting as counsel.
The Result: Better Privilege Calls
With AI decoding these relationships, attorneys reviewing documents get a clearer picture of who’s who. They can focus on confirming privilege calls rather than hunting down aliases or guessing identities. That means fewer mistakes, faster review, and stronger defensibility if privilege determinations are ever challenged.
Why It Matters
Privilege review has always been about context and context often lives outside the document itself. By helping attorneys see beyond the four corners of an email or memo, AI ensures that “James” isn’t just another James, but the right James. In the high-stakes world of litigation, that distinction can make all the difference.
How Page One Helps
At Page One, Inc., we don’t just provide the technology, we partner with you to make privilege review manageable, defensible, and efficient leveraging the best of breed technology partners like Relativity. With our experience across complex matters, we ensure that aiR for Privilege delivers maximum value for your team.
Ready to simplify privilege review? Reach out to Page One today to see how we can help you move faster, reduce risk, and protect what matters most. More Powerful Together.
