Which stage evaluates ESI for relevance and privilege?

• A. Review
• B. Analysis
• C. Production
• D. Identification

Answer: (A)

In eDiscovery, the step where attorneys determine what electronically stored information actually matters for the case and whether any items are protected by privilege is the Review stage. After data is identified, collected, and processed, reviewers read documents to decide if they’re responsive to the discovery requests and should be produced, and they identify privileged material that must be redacted or withheld, often creating privilege logs as needed. This is the phase where relevance and privilege concerns are actively applied to the ESI. Production happens afterward when the chosen material is shared with the opposing party, while Identification focuses on locating potential sources and Analysis covers early case assessment and data insights.