Legal document review · Production

The 36 Group saves four working weeks and £50,000 in murder trial preparation with Luminance AI

The problem

The 36 Group had to review over 10,000 documents — including handwritten witness statements, police notes, and court orders spanning decades — within days for a historic murder trial, while working remotely during COVID-19. Their existing CCDCS system could not support real-time collaboration or efficient search.

First attempt

The CCDCS platform lacked real-time collaboration and efficient search. Manual keyword searches through police files with unhelpful or cryptic filenames caused critical information to be missed.

Workflow diagram · grounded in source
1
Document set uploaded to platform
Trigger
The team uploaded the full dataset in minutes and gained immediate access via a secure, cloud-based platform.
▾ source quote
“The team uploaded the full dataset in minutes and gained immediate access to the documents via a secure, cloud-based platform”
2
AI document analysis and visualization
Ai action
Luminance's AI rapidly analyzed and understood the document set, surfacing key information via intuitive 3D visualizations.
▾ source quote
“Luminance's AI rapidly analyzed and understood the document set, surfacing key information via intuitive 3D visualizations. The legal team could instantly spot patterns, trends, or anomalies in the evidence – whether identifying relevant documents for disclosure or investigating specific individuals”
3
Conceptual search across evidence
Ai action
Lawyers searched conceptually rather than by keyword, surfacing semantically related terms and all references to key evidence across testimonies.
▾ source quote
“A search for 'black shoes' (a key piece of physical evidence) surfaced all references, allowing the team to confirm continuity across multiple testimonies. Searching for "mother" also returned conceptually similar terms like "mum," helping the barristers prepare for cross-examinations with …”
4
Adaptive review pattern learning
Ai action
As lawyers engaged with documents, Luminance's AI adapted to their review patterns and surfaced related material without requiring manual tagging or metadata.
▾ source quote
“As lawyers engaged with the documents, Luminance's AI adapted to their review patterns – surfacing related material without requiring manual tagging or metadata”
5
Cross-examination bundle compilation
Output
Luminance reduced the compilation of cross-examination bundles from a time-consuming task to just minutes.
▾ source quote
“When it came time to compile cross-examination bundles, Luminance had already surfaced the right material – reducing what is usually a time-consuming task to just minutes”
Reported outcome

The defense team saved four working weeks and £50,000 during the review and disclosure phase, and cross-examination bundles that would normally be time-consuming were compiled in minutes.

Reported metrics
Working weeks savedfour working weeks
Cost saved£50,000
Documents reviewed10,000+
Cross-examination bundle compilation timejust minutes
Reported stack
LuminanceCCDCS
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Source
https://www.luminance.com/customers/the-36-group
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Frequently asked questions

What did this team achieve with this AI workflow?

The defense team saved four working weeks and £50,000 during the review and disclosure phase, and cross-examination bundles that would normally be time-consuming were compiled in minutes.

What tools did this team use?

Luminance, CCDCS.

What results were reported?

Working weeks saved: four working weeks; Cost saved: £50,000; Documents reviewed: 10,000+; Cross-examination bundle compilation time: just minutes (source-reported, not independently verified).

What failed first in this deployment?

The CCDCS platform lacked real-time collaboration and efficient search.

How is this legal document review AI workflow structured?

Document set uploaded to platform → AI document analysis and visualization → Conceptual search across evidence → Adaptive review pattern learning → Cross-examination bundle compilation.

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