Disclosure – Bermuda court approves of Generative AI in E-Discovery

A recently released judgment shows that in 2025, in the case of Fourworld Opportunities Fund Ltd and Ors v Enstar G, the Supreme Court of Bermuda provided one of the first common law judicial endorsements regarding the use of generative AI in e-discovery. 

The claimant party made an application of general and specific disclosure regarding a three-stage merger which was challenged by the defendant’s in-house counsel on the basis that it “would take over 400,000-man hours at an estimated cost of US$100 million”.

The Defendant party provided expert evidence, that it was able to comply with its e-disclosure obligations at a relatively compressed timeframe and at small percentage of the total cost by way of the adoption of generative AI within the e-disclosure process.

The Court noted that the “cost and complexity [of the disclosure exercise] would be greatly reduced… by the efficient use of eDiscovery techniques, using AI and other forensic software” and separately observed that the excessive timeframes and costs associated with manual document review was not “realistic in the modern context of commercial litigation.”

 Whilst the judgment gives relatively little explanation for the decision, and decisions of the Supreme Court of Bermuda are persuasive but not determinative of cases in England & Wales, it does reflect the increasing adoption of generative AI in e-discovery and that courts will be grappling with what emerging technologies can be used, when, and how.

For more information about the law, technology and practice of disclosure, contact Tom Whittaker,  David Hine or Zac Bourne.

This article was co-authored by Zac Boune and Max Callus 

“While the Court acknowledges that there will be significant cost to the production exercise, but that alone is not a bar to ordering it, the Court is satisfied that the cost and complexity of the production exercise will be greatly reduced from the scale predicted by Mr. Shettle by the efficient use of eDiscovery techniques, using AI and other forensic software.”