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BY DERA J. NEVIN TECH SUPPORT Things to consider when using document review lawyers are neither within your client's organ- ization nor within your law firm. I set out some factors below to increase the likeli- hood of an efficient and quality review: Who hires: the law firm or the client? S The answer to the question depends on a number of factors, set out below, including special concerns of maintaining privilege and confidentiality. Is this a legal or other service? This is not an academic question and affects everything from how to maintain confi- dentiality and privilege, to how the review lawyers are supervised, to whether privil- ege attaches to communications, and how insurance arrangements are structured. Corporate structure: One can obtain document review lawyers from a place- ment agency, a corporation, or a law firm. Each of these corporate structures can affect everything from the legal status of the document review lawyer, to how privilege and confidentiality are protected, to the level and kind of insur- uppose you have a docu- ment review project, and a decision has been made to use external document review lawyers, those who ance carried by each lawyer and/or the corporate organization, and whether there are any insurance gaps. Insurance: Review all insurance arrangements. In the case of placement agencies and corporations, I review the comprehensive general liability or errors-and-omissions policy; where I am engaging a law firm, I consult with LawPRO and my firm's own insurance arrangements to ensure there are no coverage gaps. Where you are engaging foreign jurisdiction reviewers, check insurance availability and levels. Get proof. Privilege/confidentiality: Address privilege in the retainer agreement. Structure communications to preserve privilege in the records, in communica- tions between the law firm and client, and the law firm and the document review lawyers. In all review cases, even if the lawyers are employees of a law firm retained to do the review, I have each person involved sign a warranty and confidentiality agreement. Conflicts: A conflict check should be performed against the organization supplying the review lawyers, and each 30 N O VEMBER / D ECEMBER 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com of the review lawyers, to ensure there are no conflicts. Project scope: Make sure this is set out in the statement of work, as an adden- dum to the retainer agreement. Who will be responsible for quality control and supervision? Who will be responsible for human resources, including ensur- ing proper attendance and completion of time sheets? Who will be responsible for training? Also, clearly and substantively set out what the document review lawyers are going to do. I always characterize the assignment as simple, complicated, or complex. A simple review may just involve reviewing documents for privil- ege and basic relevance. A complicated review may involve identifying one or more issues or key documents. Complex reviews occur where the outcome of cod- ing is dependent on all of the documents that a reviewer has seen. Each of these reviews must be structured appropriately, and reviewers must be given a different kind of training in each circumstance. Starting the review project: Think through who will train the document review lawyers, what materials they will