Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Document Review Clerk

🎯 Role Definition

The Document Review Clerk is responsible for reviewing, categorizing, redacting, and managing large volumes of physical and electronic documents to support legal teams, compliance departments, auditors, and records management functions. This role requires meticulous attention to detail, working knowledge of document review platforms and redaction tools, strong data-handling discipline, and the ability to meet tight deadlines while preserving chain-of-custody and confidentiality. The Document Review Clerk plays a central role in discovery, audit preparation, regulatory responses, and internal records organization.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Administrative Assistant with document handling experience
Data Entry Clerk familiar with high-volume processing
Legal Assistant or Paralegal Intern

Advancement To:

Senior Document Reviewer / Lead Reviewer
E-Discovery Specialist or Litigation Support Analyst
Records Manager or Information Governance Specialist
Compliance Analyst or Audit Support Lead

Lateral Moves:

Quality Assurance Analyst (Document/Process QA)
Audit Support Specialist
Information Governance Coordinator

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Conduct comprehensive, line-by-line review of physical and electronic documents for responsiveness, relevance, privilege, confidentiality, and legal hold compliance, ensuring accurate tagging and reasoned disposition in support of litigation, regulatory inquiries, and internal investigations.
Apply consistent coding schemes and metadata tagging to documents (e.g., custodian, date range, document type, subject matter, privilege flags) to enable accurate search, production, and reporting across eDiscovery platforms.
Perform precise redaction of sensitive personal, proprietary, or privileged information using industry-standard redaction tools (Adobe Acrobat Pro, Relativity redaction, native platform redaction), and verify redactions for completeness and non-reversibility.
Prepare and assemble production sets according to attorney instructions and court rules, including Bates-stamping, pagination, formatting to load files, load files generation, and delivery in multiple required formats (PDF, TIFF, native).
Execute quality control reviews to detect and correct coding errors, redaction omissions, OCR inaccuracies, and misclassified documents; document quality findings and implement corrective actions to meet internal QA standards.
Run metadata extraction, optical character recognition (OCR) preprocessing, and text-search validation to ensure document searchability and accurate indexing before review begins.
Use document review platforms (Relativity, Everlaw, iCONECT, Concordance, iManage) to create review batches, assign reviewers, set review workflows, and monitor throughput and SLA adherence.
Support privilege logs creation by identifying privileged communications, documenting privilege bases (attorney-client, work product), and compiling privilege entries for counsel review.
Maintain chain-of-custody and secure handling practices for physical evidence and sensitive electronic data, logging transfers, access, and disposition in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Triage incoming collection sets, deduplicate, de-NIST, and perform early culling steps (date filters, custodian filters, file-type exclusions) in coordination with eDiscovery or IT teams.
Coordinate with attorneys and paralegals to clarify document issues, escalate complex privilege questions, and provide timely status updates on review volumes and issues discovered.
Conduct post-production validation and reconciliation to confirm delivered documents match production logs, load files, and stakeholder expectations.
Index and archive final records according to retention schedules and records management policies, ensuring retrievability for audits, investigations, and FOIA requests.
Assist in preparing chain-of-custody and evidence transfer documentation for forensic teams or external vendors when specialized processing or forensic imaging is required.
Maintain accurate tracking spreadsheets, dashboards, and KPI reports (documents reviewed per day, error rates, time-to-complete) to support project managers and legal leads.
Execute targeted searches and spot-checks using advanced search queries (Boolean, proximity, regex) to verify review completeness and identify missed responsive documents.
Provide on-the-ground training and mentorship for new reviewers, including platform navigation, coding guidelines, privilege identification, and quality expectations.
Ensure compliance with data privacy and security policies (GDPR, HIPAA where applicable), masking or flagging PII/PHI for secure handling and notifying compliance teams when needed.
Coordinate with IT and eDiscovery vendors to facilitate document ingestion, troubleshoot platform issues, and ensure processing pipelines are functioning and producing accurate load files.
Review and reconcile OCR/tiff conversion exceptions and handle native files appropriately to preserve evidentiary integrity and original metadata.
Participate in scoping sessions with project managers to estimate review hours, set realistic timelines, and recommend efficient workflows to reduce costs while maintaining quality.
Archive and manage physical paper records including scanning, indexing, and proper disposal in accordance with retention and destruction policies.
Track hard-copy and scanned document provenance and ensure fit-for-purpose labeling, batching, and secure transport between storage, scanning, and review teams.
Assist counsel in preparing exhibit lists, trial binders, and document indexes for hearings or depositions by compiling labeled and cross-referenced document sets.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc scanning, ingestion, and batch processing tasks to keep review workstreams moving and reduce ingestion backlogs.
Maintain and update process documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and review guidelines to capture lessons learned and ensure consistent reviewer behavior.
Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by logging recurring document types, problematic sources, and workflow bottlenecks to reduce rework and improve throughput.
Assist with internal audits and external vendor validations by preparing requested documentation, export sets, and analyst notes.
Create and maintain knowledge-base articles and quick-reference guides for common privilege scenarios, redaction tips, and platform shortcuts.
Coordinate scheduling and workload balancing for review teams, ensuring equitable task assignment and timely completion of high-priority productions.
Support document indexing and retention schedule updates by communicating required classifications to records management teams.
Help prepare training materials and run refresher sessions on platform updates, new redaction tools, and updated coding guidelines.
Back up other administrative functions as needed, such as mailroom intake of legal notices, physical document retrieval from offsite storage, and assist with courier logistics.
Participate in cross-functional meetings with litigation support, compliance, and IT to align priorities and resolve technical or process escalations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficient with document review and eDiscovery platforms (e.g., Relativity, Everlaw, iCONECT, Concordance, Exterro) and able to create batches, queries, and productions.
Strong experience using Adobe Acrobat Pro for redaction, PDF optimization, Bates-stamping, and PDF portfolio management.
Familiarity with OCR technologies and validating OCR output for full-text search and indexing accuracy.
Ability to extract, interpret, and manage document metadata and load files (DAT, CSV, XML) and prepare production load files.
Experience with scanning workflows, image QC, TIFF/PDF conversion, and handling native file types while preserving metadata.
Knowledge of basic eDiscovery concepts: deduplication, de-NISTing, document families, custodianship, privilege logs, and chain-of-custody.
Competence with Microsoft Excel for tracking, pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, and dashboard creation to monitor review progress and QA metrics.
Familiarity with records management principles, retention schedules, and secure destruction procedures.
Comfortable with Boolean, proximity, and fielded search queries; ability to craft advanced search strategies to locate relevant documents.
Experience with secure data handling and compliance frameworks (data privacy, HIPAA/GDPR awareness), and following strict confidentiality protocols.
Basic troubleshooting skills to coordinate ingestion/processing issues with IT or vendor support and run common platform diagnostics.

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and pattern recognition to identify responsive information, privilege, and redaction needs in complex documents.
Strong time management and prioritization skills to meet fast-moving deadlines and multiple concurrent review assignments.
Clear written and verbal communication to explain document issues to attorneys, paralegals, and project managers.
High level of discretion, integrity, and professionalism when handling sensitive and confidential materials.
Analytical mindset and problem-solving ability to triage ambiguous documents and propose reasonable coding or escalation paths.
Team-oriented collaborator who can train, mentor, and provide constructive QA feedback to peers.
Adaptability and resilience in dynamic review projects with changing scope, instructions, and platform tools.
Ability to follow detailed written review protocols and apply judgment within defined escalation criteria.
Initiative and ownership to identify process bottlenecks and propose workable improvements.
Calm under pressure and able to sustain focus during high-volume review sprints or production deadlines.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or GED required.

Preferred Education:

Associate degree or certificate (Paralegal, Records Management, Legal Studies) preferred.
Bachelor’s degree in Information Management, Criminal Justice, Legal Studies, or a related field advantageous.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Paralegal Studies
Records/Information Management
Library & Information Science
Legal Studies or Pre-Law
Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

1 to 3 years of document review, records processing, or legal administrative experience.

Preferred:

3+ years of hands-on document review/eDiscovery experience (Relativity, Concordance, Everlaw), demonstrated redaction and production work, and exposure to litigation or regulatory response projects.
Prior experience in a law firm, corporate legal department, eDiscovery service provider, or records management environment is strongly preferred.