Artificial intelligence is changing how legal teams handle document review, litigation preparation and evidence analysis. Yet as law firms move more work to automated systems, the industry faces a question that goes beyond productivity: how can these tools demonstrate that their outputs are reliable enough for legal proceedings?
The issue will take center stage at Georgetown Law’s Advanced eDiscovery Institute (AEDI), taking place November 19 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. The event will bring together more than 450 judges, litigators, corporate counsel and technology professionals to discuss the evolving relationship between AI and electronic discovery.
The urgency reflects the pace of adoption. The Thomson Reuters Institute’s 2026 AI in Professional Services Report found that 40% of professionals now work at organizations using generative AI, nearly twice the 22% reported a year earlier. However, only 18% said their organizations track the return on investment of these technologies.
For the legal sector, measuring efficiency is only part of the challenge. AI-generated evidence and automated document analysis also raise questions about accuracy, human oversight and admissibility.
Proposed Federal Rule of Evidence 707, which sought to apply expert testimony reliability standards to certain AI-generated evidence, was not advanced by the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules following criticism and several revisions. The committee instead opted to hold further discussions with technical experts and practitioners, leaving a potential amendment open to a longer regulatory process.
The issue is particularly relevant to eDiscovery providers and alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), which are adapting their services as law firms integrate AI into litigation workflows.
Shimmy Messing, CEO of Altorney, will attend this year’s institute. Founded in 2021, the company operates a marketplace connecting law firms, ALSPs and corporate legal departments with document review attorneys, alongside its MARC solution.
As AI-assisted document review becomes more common, human professionals continue to play a role in validating privilege decisions, checking results and documenting review processes. This creates new operational questions around staffing, supervision and the cost of legal services.
The institute will also feature the return of its AI Proving Grounds labs, hosted by Everlaw and Relativity. Participants will test practical applications including early case assessment, fact development, chronology building and deposition preparation. For the first time, these sessions will carry CLE credit.
With more than 60 speakers on the program, AEDI comes at a moment when legal technology adoption is advancing faster than the rules designed to govern it. For the broader legal services market, the next stage of AI integration may depend less on how much work can be automated and more on whether firms can demonstrate that the results are accurate, transparent and defensible.
