Users think in legal stages, not database tables
Reviewers and case managers described their work as hold, collect, review and produce, not by the tool’s internal objects.
Design impact: navigation rebuilt around the eDiscovery lifecycle.
Overview
Project overview
eDiscovery is how legal teams find, preserve, review and hand over electronic evidence (email, chat, files) for litigation and investigations. Mistakes are expensive: a missed document or a wrongly produced privileged email can change the outcome of a case.
Consilio’s suite ran as a legacy desktop application. Moving it to the web meant redesigning workflows for thousands of reviewers, case managers and litigation-support staff without slowing down live matters.
Before: legacy desktop
- Installed per machine, hard to update
- Workflows built around the database, not the legal process
- Little validation, so errors surfaced late
- Each module looked and behaved differently
After: modern web platform
- Browser-based, one workspace per matter
- Workflows mirror real eDiscovery stages
- Validation and guidance at every risky step
- One pattern library across 8 modules
The challenge
Problem statement and pain points
- High-stakes errors: coding or production mistakes carried legal risk and were costly to fix.
- Slow processing: reviewers lost time switching between disconnected screens and dialogs.
- Heavy support load: unclear instructions and missing validation drove a steady stream of support requests.
- Inconsistent modules: eight modules each had their own patterns, so every new area meant relearning the tool.
Approach
My approach
- Stakeholder interviews and requirements gathering with legal, litigation-support and product teams.
- Workflow analysis: observing how reviewers and case managers actually move through a matter.
- Information architecture aligned with real-world eDiscovery stages, from legal hold to production.
- Validation and instructional design at every step where an error would be costly.
- Reusable design patterns shared across all 8 modules of the suite.
Process
Designed around the eDiscovery lifecycle
The new information architecture follows the stages legal teams already think in, so the navigation itself explains where a matter is and what comes next.
01 · Preserve
Legal holds
Notices, acknowledgements and custodians
02 · Collect
Collection
Sources, scope and chain of custody
03 · Process
Processing
Loads, exceptions and quality control
04 · Review
Document review
Queue, viewer and coding
05 · Analyse
Search & analytics
ECA, facets and prioritisation
06 · Produce
Production & audit
Wizard, QC and delivery history
Users
Who it’s for
Primary
Document reviewer
- Codes hundreds of documents a day
- Needs speed without losing context
- Relies on keyboard and queue flow
Primary
Review lead / case manager
- Runs batches, protocols and deadlines
- Tracks progress and risk per matter
- Signs off on productions
Secondary
Litigation support
- Manages holds, collection and processing
- Handles exceptions and QC
- Owns chain of custody
Research
What we learned
Context is everything in review
Reviewers needed the document, its family and the coding options at the same time; switching windows broke concentration.
Design impact: a three-pane review workspace.
Errors came from unclear, unvalidated steps
Most costly mistakes happened in setup-heavy tasks like production, where settings were scattered and nothing was checked.
Design impact: guided wizards with validation and clear instructions.
Every action must be defensible
Teams had to show who did what and when, months later, sometimes in court.
Design impact: explicit status, audit trails and package manifests.
Principles
Design principles applied
Where research left a choice open, these principles decided it.
Legal-grade trustDefensibility first
Applied: Every action keeps who, what and when; status is always explicit and auditable.
Impact: Teams can defend their process in court.
Human in the loopAI is advisory
Applied: Model suggestions show confidence and reasons, and need reviewer confirmation.
Impact: Speed without giving up legal judgement.
Familiar patternsJakob’s Law
Applied: Desktop conventions reviewers relied on (panes, shortcuts, queues) were kept on the web.
Impact: A shorter learning curve during migration.
Cognitive loadProgressive disclosure
Applied: Complex settings sit inside guided steps, like the production wizard.
Impact: Fewer configuration errors.
One pattern libraryConsistency
Applied: Tables, chips, headers and panels shared across all 8 modules.
Impact: Learn once, use everywhere.
ValidationError prevention
Applied: Inline validation and clear instructions at risky steps such as production.
Impact: 40% fewer user errors.
Low-fidelity wireframes
Greyscale wireframes of every module, desktop and mobile
All eight modules were wireframed in greyscale first, with the same regions as the final screens: module navigation, matter header, status, and each module’s main working area. Reviewers walked through them with real review protocols before any visual design. Key screens were also wireframed for mobile, where the navigation collapses into a menu and panels stack.
Desktop · 8 modules
01Matter overview
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
Meridian acquisition reviewMatter ID · Client · Lead counsel
ACTIVEView audit trailOpen review queue →Documents collected00,000
Review completed00,000
Needs attention00,000
Next milestone00,000
Discovery workflow
Preservation
Collection
Processing
Review
Analysis
Production
Recent matters
MatterClientCustodiansDocumentsStatus
STATUS
STATUS
STATUS
STATUS
02Legal holds
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
Legal hold managementMatter · Hold coordinator
2 OPEN HOLDSView hold activity＋ Create legal holdNotices to send00,000
Notices sent00,000
Custodians in scope00,000
Active holds00,000
Hold register
Hold nameCustodiansNotice issuedFollow-upOwnerStatus
OPEN
OPEN
OPEN
OPEN
03Collection & processing
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
Data operationsPreservation, collection, exceptions and QC
12 SOURCESMatter overviewCustodians in scope00,000
Collected items00,000
Processing exceptions00,000
Last load00,000
Collection sources
Custodian / sourceScopePreservationCollection
CONFIRMED
CONFIRMED
CONFIRMED
CONFIRMED
Processing pipeline
Ingest
Deduplicate
Extract text
OCR
Index
04Document review
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
Batch 07 / responsiveness & privilege24-document batch · Protocol v3.2 · Reviewer
8 UNCODEDView analyticsReview queue
AllUncoded 8
Merger timing discussionTYPE · DATE · CUSTODIANLikely responsive
Integration planning notesTYPE · DATE · CUSTODIANResponsive
Quarterly forecast draftTYPE · DATE · CUSTODIANNeeds context
Document viewerOriginal · Page 1 of 3 · 110%
EMAIL · MSG-ID · CUSTODIAN · FAMILY 1 OF 4Meridian integration timeline
Coding panel
Responsive
Not responsive
Needs review
PrivilegeSelect basis ▾AI suggestion · advisory
Save & next →AcceptOverride
05Search & ECA
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
Search and explore the matterTerms, metadata and visual facets
DEMOECA dashboardOpen review set →Search preview⌕ Terms, metadata…
Results: 479 documents3,897 pages · 0.21 GBHas duplicates ×Slack ×
Auto tags
Facet value
Facet value
Facet value
Facet value
Email domain
Facet value
Facet value
Facet value
Facet value
Chat reactions
Facet value
Facet value
Facet value
Facet value
Search results
DocumentCustodianDateTypeTag
TAG
TAG
TAG
06Analytics & AI
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
Explore patternsPrioritise review and keep AI work explainable
DEMO DATAOpen reviewDocuments in scope00,000
Potentially responsive00,000
Needs privilege review00,000
Needs human validation00,000
Review prioritisationMODEL ASSIST
High relevance
Potential privilege
Near-duplicate groups
Needs context
Issue and concept map
Regulatory timing000 docs
Integration planning000 docs
Pricing000 docs
Board updates000 docs
Retention000 docs
Vendors000 docs
07Production setup
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
New production setConfigure source, format and QC before staging
DRAFT · NOT SUBMITTEDPrototype workflowDestination
Options
Settings
Other
Summary
Status
Production actionSelect ▾
TemplateSelect ▾
Production name *Select ▾
Select source sets to include
Media / source nameOriginal docsDuplicatesInclude
✓
✓
✓
✓
BackNext step →
08Production & audit
◼ Consilio
ORGANIZATIONNorthwind Legal
OverviewLegal holdsCollection & processingDocument reviewSearchAnalytics & AIProduction setupProduction & auditGOVERNANCEAudit trailAccess & securityMatters / MER-2026-014
DeliverablesReviewable production set, QC and matter history
QC IN PROGRESSReturn to reviewProduction sets00,000
Documents in draft00,000
QC checks complete00,000
Next delivery00,000
Production sets
SetDocumentsFormatStatus
DRAFT QC
DRAFT QC
Pre-delivery QC
Counts reconciled
Bates range checked
Redactions applied
Privilege log
Load files
Mobile · key screens
M1Matter overview
MER-2026-014Meridian acquisition reviewACTIVEOpen review queue →
Documents collected00,000
Review completed00,000
Discovery workflow
Preservation
Collection
Processing
Review
M2Document review
Batch 07Protocol v3.28 UNCODED
Merger timing discussionTYPE · DATE · CUSTODIANLikely responsive
Document viewer
Coding
Save & next →Responsive
Not responsive
M3Search & ECA
Search the matter⌕ Terms, metadata…479 documents
Duplicates ×Slack ×
Auto tags
Facet
Facet
Facet
Email domain
Domain
Domain
M4Production & audit
DeliverablesQC IN PROGRESS
QC checks complete00,000
Production sets
DELIVERED
DRAFT
Pre-delivery QC
Counts reconciled
Bates range
Redactions