How to Manage an ESI Review Team

The following links point to a series of posts from the E-Discovery Daily Blog. The focus of the content walks you step by step in best practices for managing an e-discovery document review team.

1.       Introduction

2.       Clearly Define Objectives

3.       Get a Handle on the Document Collection

4.       First Steps in Drafting Criteria

5.       Drafting Responsive Criteria – a Step-by-Step Guide

6.       Drafting Privileged Criteria

7.       Applying Topic Codes in the Document Review

8.       Identify a Project Manager

9.       Prepare a Review Plan

10.   Assembling the Project Team

11.   Training a Review Team

12.   Starting the Project

13.   Keeping Decisions in the Hands of the Attorneys

14.   Ensuring High-Quality, Consistent Work

15.   Keep the Staff Motivated

16.   Use the Team’s Knowledge

Review Guide « The Electronic Discovery Reference Model

EDRM Document Review Workflow Chart

Aim: To gain an understanding of document content while organizing them into logical sub-sets in an efficient and cost effective manner.

Goal: Develop facts, reduce risk, reduce cost, leverage technology, facilitate collaboration and communication.

via Review Guide « The Electronic Discovery Reference Model.

This is a pretty in-depth overview of what you need to know to successfully plan and manage a document review.

Key Learning Points include:

• Review Technology, Process & Workflow
• Review Team Management
• Vendor / Service Provider Selection
• Reporting and Metrics

Identification Guide « The Electronic Discovery Reference Model

Identification Workflow Chart

Aim: To identify subject matter experts, resources involved, potential sources of data; to determine the depth and breadth of potential liability; to aggregate information sources for developing course of action.

Goal: Evaluate, leverage and mitigate.

via Identification Guide « The Electronic Discovery Reference Model.

View the Table of Contents for this section of the EDRM

Managing Lawyers for your Document Review – 10 Tips

Here are 10 tips for managing contract attorneys.

via Managing Lawyers.

1. Privilege law
2. Choose wisely/ do your homework
3. Quality control
4. Conferences/ getting started
5. Review software
6. Share knowledge
7. Provide managerial and technical support
8. Provide the proper office equipment
9. Treat contract professionals with respect
10. Build teams

Law.com – 6 Factors Help Avoid an E-Discovery Disaster

Law.com – 6 Factors Help Avoid an E-Discovery Disaster.

This is a good check list for preparing for your discovery conference with the other side or simply preparing for litigation in general. The six factors detailed in the article are:

1. Preserve Relevant ESI - author provides a case example
2. Confer with your Opponent – describes importance and practicality of the meet n confer, also provides tips
3. Collect Data Intelligently – it is no longer acceptable practice to do this yourself, at a minimum, meaningful supervision is required
4. Rely on your Vendor – but be careful not to over delegate to the point that you don’t know what’s going with your project
5. Consider using Hosted Databases - there are lots of reasons this is a good idea, probably the best one being that it provides a predictable cost for your budget plan
6. If all else Fails, Go to Court – ediscovery project management best practices will hopefully help everyone avoid this scenario and the Sedona Conference’s Cooperation Proclamation strongly discourages discovery disputes but we know that that will happen in some cases so it’s best to be prepared

You’ll find many other checklists for discovery preparation on the internet. This article provides recent case law examples as reference points.