Change is the only constant in the world of ediscovery – and it’s happening faster than ever. According to the 2025 State of the Industry Report by eDiscovery Today, trends like generative AI and cloud-based solutions are revolutionizing legal tech. But with these changes come new opportunities – and risks. How can legal professionals stay ahead of the curve in the evolving legal landscape?
To help unpack these trends, industry experts Doug Austin and Brett Burney break down the report’s key takeaways in the latest Key Discovery Points video. In this blog, we’ll analyze the key findings from the 2025 State of the Industry Report and explore their potential impact on ediscovery and legal practices moving forward.
Doug Austin
Doug is a recognized leader in the field of ediscovery, boasting over three decades of experience delivering best practices, consulting on legal tech, and managing technical projects for various commercial and government clients. He has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences such as LegalTech New York, ILTACON, Relativity Fest, University of Florida eDiscovery Conference, Masters Conference, as well as various local and regional conferences. Doug has also presented numerous CLE-accredited webcasts.
Brett Burney
Brett is Nextpoint Law Group‘s VP of eDiscovery Consulting and a widely recognized authority on the complex ediscovery issues litigators currently face. In addition to consulting with corporations and law firms on their data management and legal technology issues, Brett is a journalist, podcaster, speaker, and author. Before founding his ediscovery consulting practice, Brett supported lawyers at an AmLaw 200 firm, where he worked with litigation teams in building electronic document databases, counseling on ediscovery issues, and managing the technical responsibilities of presenting evidence at trial.
Every year brings new technologies, workflows, and challenges that push the boundaries of legal innovation. The 2025 State of the Industry Report reveals several important insights shaping the future of ediscovery. Let’s dive into some of the key findings from the report.
- Demographics: Respondents were primarily from software/service providers (39.7%), law firms (30.7%), consultancies (15.4%), corporations (7.4%), and government agencies (4.7%). Notably, 80.6% of respondents were based in the U.S.
- AI’s Growing Impact: Over a quarter (26%) of respondents expect generative AI and LLM technology to have a transformative impact on ediscovery this year. Additionally, 81.7% anticipate that these technologies will create new workflows in 2025.
- Generative AI in Action: Over 30% of respondents are already using generative AI and LLM technology across seven different ediscovery use cases, showing the increasing integration of AI into legal workflows. However, just 12.3% are applying it to all or most of their cases.
- Predictive Coding: 30.8% of respondents use predictive coding in the majority of their cases, but 24.9% report using it in very few or none of their cases – highlighting a divergence in the adoption of this technology.
- Mobile Devices & Collaboration Apps: While 37.5% of respondents reported discovering mobile data in most or all of their cases, it’s telling that a sizable portion (19.7%) still rarely encounters mobile devices in discovery. This could indicate an underutilization of technology or a gap in awareness that legal teams must address to keep up with modern trends.
- Key eDiscovery Trends: The clear frontrunner for the biggest ediscovery trend in 2025 is the increased use of AI technology, including generative AI (48.8%), followed by the rise of cloud-based ediscovery solutions (10.5%).
- Unspoken Challenges: Once again, 26.1% of respondents highlighted the lack of ediscovery competence within the legal field as the most pressing challenge not being addressed. This continues to be a key issue for the industry, with an increasing need for education and expertise.
Want to dive even deeper into these trends? Be sure to watch the full Key Discovery Points video and learn directly from experts Brett Burney and Doug Austin as they break down the 2025 State of the Industry Report. They’ll explore how AI, predictive coding, mobile data, and other innovations are set to transform legal workflows in 2025.
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