Documents and productions

A legal document belongs to a matter and carries a title, revision, privilege state, content hash and approval name. The file attachment can hold the document itself. A production is a separate record identifying when the document was sent, its recipient, authorization reference and production hash. These facts allow the team to distinguish an internal version from the material actually produced.

Counsel checks the document revision and privilege state before authorizing a production. The coordinator should record a recipient and authorization reference for the specific document involved. The production hash ties that record to the content sent. Keep the produced revision as its own document record, linked from the production. Its content hash and production hash let a reviewer distinguish it from a later working version.

• Review privilege explicitly. Unreviewed material calls for counsel’s decision before sharing.
• Identify the revision. A title alone cannot distinguish changed content.
• Record the recipient. Production evidence explains where the authorized material went.

Agree the convention for document revisions, content hashes and approval names. Decide which attorney reviews privilege and how the team records authorization references. Prepare a document that changes after counsel’s first review and another that contains material marked Privileged. Check how the production record identifies the exact content sent without overwriting either revision.

A response draft is attached to an active matter. The team records its first revision and content hash, while counsel reviews privilege. After comments, the revised document receives a new revision and hash. Counsel approves the version to send and gives the coordinator the authorization reference. The coordinator records the recipient, production date and hash of the produced material.

Later, an auditor asks what was sent and under whose authority. The team can open the matter, find the production, and compare its document link and production hash with the approved revision. Keep the later working version as a separate document record so the production still points to the version that was sent.

• Unreviewed legal documents — Matter documents awaiting a privilege decision.
• Matters in progress — The case record linking documents to activity.

Follow document review to production. Review roles for access to evidence. Review integrations when choosing a document storage or delivery channel.