Document production plays a critical role in the litigation review process. Document production creates the main corpus of potential evidence used for claim amendments, depositions, settlement negotiations, summary judgment efforts, and from which admissible trial exhibits will be identified, culled, introduced, and used. Thus, even small document productions must meet certain basic and essential requirements, including:
- Satisfying ethical and legal obligations under the applicable local Rules
- Achieving an exceptionally high accuracy rate in identifying, coding, and processing documents in a manner that correlates to the claim-specific litigation issues
- Meeting court-imposed and/or litigant-negotiated time deadlines
In addition, all document productions must satisfy certain client expectations such as maximizing efficiency, minimizing interference with client business operations, finishing within budget, and complying with client directives with respect to coding such as a “liberal” use of confidentiality markings that protect proprietary information/data, sources, and methods.
The document review process is the mechanism by which these basic and essential requirements are accomplished. To achieve an exceptional document review, here are some of the best practices that must be used.
Advance planning and auditing the document production environment
To establish budget and staffing requirements, a preliminary assessment is needed of what can be called the “document production environment.” Key questions include:
- What is the potential size of the document review?
- What is the proportion of paper-format documents as compared to electronic format documents?
- Are there complex and difficult retrieval issues with certain documents and formats?
- What are the expected categories of documents that are to be withheld?
- What is the most efficient method of categorizing documents, segregating them, and processing them?
- ● Based on the preliminary survey of the document environment, what technologies can be used effectively to make the document review cost- and time-efficient?
- What is the expected method of eventual production?
- Who are the personnel that must be involved and interviewed in the identification and retrieval process?
- Where is the most efficient, but least intrusive and disruptive, location for the document review?
These questions serve as a starting point for the case assessment process, which can and should be tailored to the specific needs of each individual case or internal investigation.
For more information on how we can help you design a document review process to efficiently meet your case or investigation needs, contact Baer Reed. We provide document review and other litigation support solutions to law firms and in-house legal teams around the globe. To learn more, contact us online or call us today at 888-433-1990.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.