Managed document review is a crucial phase in the eDiscovery process, which involves identifying, reviewing, and analyzing large volumes of documents and data for legal purposes. The goal is to assess the relevance, privilege, and responsiveness of the documents to the case at hand. The workflow of managed document review typically includes the following steps:
Data Collection: The first step is to gather all the relevant data sources, which can include electronic files, emails, databases, cloud storage, and other repositories. This process may involve data preservation and legal holds to ensure data integrity.
Data Processing: Once the data is collected, it undergoes processing, which involves converting the collected files into a format suitable for review. This step may include data filtering, deduplication (removing duplicate documents), file format standardization, and extraction of metadata.
Data Hosting: Processed data is then uploaded to a secure document review platform or software, commonly known as a review platform. This platform provides the necessary tools and functionalities for document review, including search, tagging, redaction, and annotation capabilities.
Document Review Strategy: Before starting the review, it is essential to define the document review strategy. This includes determining the scope of the review, identifying relevant search terms and keywords, and establishing review protocols and guidelines.
Reviewer Assignment: Review teams are formed, consisting of attorneys, paralegals, or contract reviewers who will review and analyze the documents for responsiveness, privilege, and other legal considerations. Assigning reviewers with specific expertise or subject matter knowledge may be necessary in complex cases.
Review Process: Reviewers access the review platform and begin examining the documents. They assess the relevance, privilege, and other criteria based on the established review guidelines. Documents can be tagged, categorized, or marked for further analysis or production.
Quality Control: To ensure accuracy and consistency, quality control measures are implemented. This may involve sampling a subset of documents reviewed by different team members to assess the level of agreement and address any discrepancies. Feedback and training may be provided to reviewers as needed.
Document Production: After the review is complete, the reviewed documents that are deemed relevant and responsive to the case are prepared for production to opposing parties, regulatory bodies, or as required by the legal process. This involves exporting the selected documents in the appropriate format and securely transmitting them.
Post-Production Tasks: Once the document production is finalized, post-production tasks may include document tracking, managing privilege logs, and addressing any additional requests or challenges related to the reviewed documents.
Throughout the managed document review workflow, it is important to maintain proper data security and confidentiality to protect sensitive information. Additionally, leveraging technology-assisted review (TAR) techniques, such as predictive coding or machine learning, can help expedite the review process by prioritizing potentially relevant documents for human review based on algorithms and previous reviewer decisions.