Document review is a formative component of litigation, especially in complex antitrust and competition law cases. With the various types of antitrust cases such as price fixing, bid rigging, monopolistic practices, and market allocation schemes, documents need to be reviewed for relevance, privilege, or confidentiality. Because antitrust laws involve competition practices, the legal teams must thoroughly examine communications between companies, financial records, and other documents to evaluate whether there were efforts to manipulate market conditions. Antitrust cases also frequently produce extensive amounts of data, so a well-organized and efficient document review process can significantly impact the outcome of a case. This data requires careful and strategic review to ensure compliance with legal standards and uncover key evidence. These cases typically involve reviewing years of internal communications, pricing strategies, sales records, and contracts. Understanding the key phases of document review is fundamental for legal teams to work on the case efficiently.
Phase 1: Identification and Collection of Documents
The first phase of document review involves identifying the relevant documents for the case. With antitrust investigations, this often means gathering internal company communications, emails, financial records, contracts, and other forms of documentation that might shed light on the company’s practices. Given the complexity and scope of antitrust cases, this initial phase often involves vast amounts of data.
Identifying all potentially relevant materials while excluding irrelevant ones can be laborious. Missing key documents could harm a legal team’s position, while including too many irrelevant documents can bog down the review process and risks producing sensitive company data unnecessarily. At this stage, legal teams may use eDiscovery solutions to narrow down the identification process by creating filters for specific keywords or terms related to the case.
Phase 2: Document Processing and Organization
Once the relevant documents have been collected, the next step is to process and organize them. This phase involves categorizing and indexing the documents to make them easier to review. In cases like antitrust litigation, where thousands or even millions of documents may be involved, a systematic approach is essential.
Documents are typically converted into a format that allows for easy searching, tagging, and sorting. The legal team may establish criteria for sorting documents by date, type, or source. Processing also involves checking for duplicates, incomplete files, and other issues that could slow down the review. This ensures that only clean, relevant data is passed on to the next phase.
These initial phases of document review—identification, collection, processing, and organization—are critical in antitrust litigation. Each step supports the legal teams in sifting through vast quantities of data to pinpoint crucial evidence that can clarify complex competitive behaviors. In Part 2, we’ll delve into the later stages of document review, including in-depth analysis and production, which are vital for compliance and strategy. By understanding and refining each of these key phases of document review, legal teams can effectively manage antitrust cases. For support on your antitrust case, contact Baer Reed today.
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.