In the great work of Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” our protagonist spends 30 years trapped in an island dungeon, makes a daring escape and, using the knowledge he gathered during his time in prison, finds treasures beyond imagination awaiting him just where he was told they would be. (He then goes off to seek revenge on those who did him wrong, but let’s skip that part.)
Much of the legal profession seems to be similarly trapped—or at least ensnared in place —for the past several decades, still content to stick to tried and true methods to search for larger and larger amounts of electronically stored information, relying on linear, manual review, as well as keyword search techniques.
