Running discovery in Australian civil litigation
Discovery is one of the most resource-intensive phases of civil litigation. AI-assisted review has materially changed the time and cost of running discovery — but the core workflow remains the same.
This is an 8-step workflow for running discovery in Australian civil litigation. It covers the discovery scope, document collection, AI-assisted relevance review, privilege screening, and lodgement. Use it for any discovery exercise in the Federal Court or state Supreme Courts.
Before you start
- A discovery order or rule application
- Litigation hold issued to the client
- Identified document custodians and systems
- Forensic collection capability if needed
The workflow
Confirm the discovery scope
Identify the discovery order or rule (standard, categories, specific). Confirm the date range and subject matter. Document the scope before collection starts.
Issue litigation hold and preserve documents
Issue a written litigation hold to the client. Suspend any document destruction policies. Preserve documents in their original location until collection.
Identify and interview custodians
Identify all individuals and systems that may hold relevant documents. Interview custodians to understand their document practices and relevant material.
Collect documents from each custodian
Collect documents in a defensible way — preserve metadata, document chain of custody, use forensic tools where appropriate. Cull obvious duplicates.
Run AI-assisted relevance review
Use Quillio (or similar AI tool) to bulk-process documents, identify relevance to the issues, and produce a structured review log. AI accelerates this dramatically.
Conduct privilege review
Identify potentially privileged documents and apply the dominant purpose test. Document the basis for each privilege claim. Privilege errors can lead to waiver.
Prepare the list of documents
List documents in the format required by the relevant court rule. Include privileged documents in a separate schedule with the basis for the claim.
Lodge, serve, and coordinate inspection
File the list with the court, serve on all other parties, and make documents available for inspection. Address any disputes about access or scope.
What you will have at the end
A complete, defensible discovery exercise — relevant documents identified and produced, privileged documents claimed and protected, and a clear paper trail of the methodology. The matter is ready to move to the next procedural step.
Common issues
- Failing to issue a litigation hold notice — risks adverse inferences for spoliation
- Missing custodians of relevant documents — particularly former employees
- Inadequate privilege review leading to waiver
- Underestimating the volume — large discovery exercises require AI-assisted review
- Missing the lodgement deadline — extensions are difficult to obtain
Run this workflow on a real matter
Quillio runs bulk discovery review at scale, surfaces relevant documents, flags potentially privileged material, and helps prepare the list of documents. See /practice-areas/litigation-lawyers or start a free trial.
This workflow covers standard discovery in Federal Court and state Supreme Court civil matters. Categories discovery and specific discovery may require additional steps.
Try this workflow with Quillio.
Quillio can run this workflow on a real matter, with citations to current AU authority on every step. The free trial requires no credit card.
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