E-Discovery Collection & Review Summary

E-Discovery Collection & Review Summary

Internal status report tracking ESI from collection through attorney review, with completion projections.

Prerequisites

• Custodian list with collection scope (systems, date ranges, locations)
• Collection logs and processing reports from vendor
• Review platform exports (coding, reviewer activity, search-term results)
• Search-term list or Boolean queries
• Review protocol (relevance, privilege, issue tags) and QC standards
• Key deadlines the review must meet
• Protective order or confidentiality requirements for reporting

Quick Start

1. Gather source data (collection logs, processing reports, review exports, search-term results, privilege summaries).
2. Normalize custodian names into a master mapping table.
3. Run integrity checks — pipeline totals must satisfy: Collected ≥ Processed ≥ Loaded ≥ Reviewed.
4. Compute core metrics tables (see below).
5. Draft executive summary with risks and recommendations.
6. Apply work-product legend.

Core Metrics

A. Collection & Processing by Custodian

Per custodian: Collected GB, Item Count, Processed %, Load Failures, File-Type Mix, Exceptions.

B. Search-Term Effectiveness

Per term/query: Hits, Hit Rate %, Sample Precision %, Overlap %, Recommended Action.

C. Review Status (Matter-Level)

Total Reviewable, Reviewed Count, % Reviewed, Relevant %, Privileged %, Non-Responsive %, Est. Completion Date.

D. Reviewer Productivity

Per reviewer/team: Docs Reviewed, Hours, Docs/Hour, Relevant %, Privileged %, QC Rate %.

E. Privilege Patterns

Per custodian: Privileged %, Dominant Doc Types, Red Flags.

Key Formulas

Executive Summary Template

• Collection completeness — status and anomalies
• Processing health — success rate and key errors
• Search-term performance — top/weak terms and overlap
• Review progress — reviewed %, relevance %, privilege %
• Forecast — ETA with assumptions
• Risks & actions — top three items

Integrity Checks

• Custodian names align across all sources (master mapping table).
• Pipeline totals are monotonically decreasing through each stage.
• Every search term in the term list appears in the results export.
• Coding records contain reviewer, date, relevance, and privilege fields.
• Processing errors are reconciled against re-runs.

Findings & Recommendations

• List missing sources and resulting limitations.
• Flag custodians with outlier volumes or error rates.
• Identify low-precision or high-overlap search terms.
• Note reviewer inconsistencies and QC actions taken.
• Recommend resource changes or search-term refinement.
• Document assumptions and gaps with impact and mitigation.

Pitfalls

• Report only aggregate metrics — never disclose privileged content.
• If counts conflict, surface the discrepancy and state the suspected cause.
• Use U.S. discovery terminology; confirm local rules before external distribution.
• Mark uncertain legal citations with [VERIFY].
• Keep narrative neutral and data-driven; avoid strategy conclusions.
• Always include: "Attorney Work Product / Privileged & Confidential. Internal use only."