We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Evidence

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What is a Document Review?

By C. Mitchell
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 10,277
Share

The practice of reviewing documents to determine their relevancy for trial is known as “document review,” commonly referred to in practice as “doc review.” One of the essential elements of trial under the common law system is the ability for each party to search for and review the relevant documents each other holds. Parties gain access to these documents through the evidentiary process of discovery, and lawyers for each side then engage in document review to ascertain how useful any given document is to the case. Lawyers also sometimes engage in document review of a client’s documents when that client, usually a business, is anticipating a lawsuit or investigation. Document review is generally considered a rather menial legal task, and typically involves no more than marking a document as “relevant” or “not relevant,” and moving on.

The earliest document reviews consisted of lawyers, typically new associates, sifting through boxes of printed paper. The advent of computer technology made printouts all but obsolete to the document review process. Most documents today are surrendered in electronic format, and are reviewed on computer screens. This has made the review process easier in some respects, but it has also meant that many more documents are now implicated. Typically everything stored on corporate servers must be surrendered during discovery, from official memos to mundane personal e-mails.

Most of the time, document review is attendant to on-going litigation. Law firms conduct document reviews pursuant to discovery law for clients who are either suing or being sued. Discovery can also be done strategically without a trial, however. A company that is planning to sue another may want to do an internal doc review to understand its own liabilities. Similarly, a company that is expecting being sued, or is expecting a federal investigation, may conduct an self-prescribed review in order to begin piecing together an appropriate defense.

Document review in all jurisdictions must be handled by licensed attorneys. Although the task is little more than scanning for content, it is an essential piece of building a legal case, and as such it must be handled by competent professionals. There is no rule that the attorneys doing the doc review services must be permanently associated with the firm in charge, however.

Law firms who regularly handle big corporate cases can be swallowed by doc review. When millions of documents must be reviewed, the process can take months, and attorneys who might otherwise be able to work substantively on the case will be tied down sorting out relevancy questions. One way some firms have tried to remedy this is by either retaining legal outsourcing services for their document reviews, or hiring contract-based attorneys to do the work for much less than an associate attorney's salary.

An attorney who does only doc review is often known as a document review attorney. This attorney is not practicing law in any meaningful sense, and he does not participate in the case beyond screening documents and marking the ones that might be relevant. He does not interact with clients or contribute anything original to the process. Some firms have document review departments of permanent lawyers whose sole job is doc review, but more often, these lawyers are hired on a part-time, contract-basis, if not outsourced entirely. When the doc review is done, so, usually, are their jobs.

Share
MyLawQuestions is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
Share
https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-is-a-document-review.htm
Copy this link
MyLawQuestions, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

MyLawQuestions, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.