Understanding the QC Process in Document Review
Quality Control (QC) is an essential feature of any document review process. Yet, because of the vast number of documents involved in a typical review, the quality control process quickly becomes complicated and challenging. An effective strategy for targeting the documents most likely to need additional quality control becomes essential to an efficient review process.
The interlocking goals of the QC process are to assure that all responsive documents are produced while also protecting against the unintended production of any privileged information. This process itself involves implementing best practices established over significant review experience while also customizing the quality control process to the specifications of each individual project, especially when different review platforms are in use.
An effective QC process is not a rote implementation of random selection and re-reviews. Instead, it involves designing a case-specific set of targeted searches designed to do the following:
- Searching for and correcting any systemic errors. These may include:
- Inconsistent use of tags,
- Conflicting tags,
- Issue coding that is too narrow or too broad to be helpful to the case goals;
- Searching for documents of particular interest in the case using particular terms, certain senders, or other such criteria, in order to ensure that all of these documents have been identified and coded consistently;
- Searching for and updating tagging based on questions that have been answered during the review process; and
- Performing a thorough review of both: (1) all documents marked as privileged and (2) those documents containing topics or phrases likely to be privileged that have not been marked as such.
Instead of focusing on random sampling, this targeted approach for seeking out and identifying issue prone documents makes the quality control process more effective and efficient. The QC team should also look for opportunities to revise the document review process to eliminate any issues caught in quality control going forward, usually by way of additional training and a revision of review guidelines.
Baer Reed provides document review and privilege review services as well as other types of litigation support to in-house legal teams and law firms around the world. To find out more about how the team at Baer Reed can help you reach your goals, contact us today.
- On October 18, 2022
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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.