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

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

| Metric | Formula | |---|---| | Hit Rate % | hits ÷ total reviewable corpus | | Precision % | relevant hits ÷ sampled hits | | Review Velocity | docs reviewed ÷ time period | | Completion ETA | remaining docs ÷ current velocity | | Privilege Rate % | privileged ÷ reviewed |

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."