Concordance was the go-to software for litigation document review from the late 80s through about the 2000s. Now of course everyone is about Relativity, but it doesn’t mean Concordance has gone away. It’s still around and many firms still have the software for smaller cases or cases that don’t justify the (sometimes) outlandish cost of cloud-hosted software. And I still have a certain fondness for it since 1) it’s the first software I used back in the 90s when I first ventured into this industry, and 2) because it’s simple and flat, it is sometimes easier to finagle into weird solutions than the heavy-duty systems.
Back in 2007 I created a video training DVD for Concordance, and although the software has gone through a few iterations and changed hands several times, the training videos I created remain (mostly) applicable. It seemed wasteful to let them collect electronic dust.
So I’ve decided to place them on YouTube (and here) for general viewing. It’s been more than a dozen years, so obviously some of the buttons and functions have been moved or upgraded; but, I’d say about 80% of the content of the videos still apply. And the main thing to keep in mind is that Concordance is essentially the progenitor of all the other tools that exist today, thus, knowing Concordance gives the user a more extensive understanding of other eDiscovery document review systems in general.
So, I hope you find it useful.
Browse View
The most foundational function of Concordance (and really any document review database platform), is the to browse/flip through the documents. This lesson shows you everything you need to know about browsing a Concordance database.
Table View
The Table View works in conjunction with the Browse View to make your document review procecss more efficient. The preferred reviewing layout would be to have both views available so that the user can see the content of the document while having access to the columns of metadata.
Edit View
The Edit View is actually one you would want to avoid if you’re dealing with electronic documents, as it may cause accidental changes to metadata fields. But, it is useful for dealing with and fixing paper documents. And as we all know, despite the touting of the “paperless office”, paper is still around.
Tags & Issues
This lesson addresses how to use Concordance Tags and Issues, which is really the bulk of the tasks done for document review. Users are expected to find relevant and/or important documents and tag them appropriately. If someone does not know how to use tags in a review database, then they’re just taking up space.
Authority Lists
The Authority Lists is one of those paper remnant functions. It allows the user to code information into the database from a predefined list of choices. The coding we’re talking about here is basically bibliographic coding for scanned paper documents.
Notes & Hyperlinks
Just like the previous video, this lesson deals with how to add notes and other annotations to the documents for both paper coding as well as an electronic review. The “Notes” function of Concordance can be used for adding annotations, hyperlinks, or any customized information to the database.
Searching
Searching is a skill that all reviewers, attorneys, and paralegals must master. With the size of databases and the amount of electronic data growing exponentially, searching is a must-have skill regardless of the software being used. Although not as robust as something like Relativity, Concordance searching is still pretty good.
Index and Reindex
Every database has an index to enable searching, and Concordance is no exception. Sometimes when searches do not produce the expected results, the index is probably the reason. This lesson walks through some of the issues that can come up when dealing with Concordance indexes.
Concordance Image
Concordance itself is actually just half of the review equation. Concordance Image (formerly Opticon) is the other half of that equation. Its the image viewer which allows users to view the originally scanned or processed document, add redactions and other annotations. It’s the tool that allows reviewers to see the actual document in its original state.
Production
What is a document review without a production? This lesson walks through how document productions are executed within Concordance. Adding bates stamp numbers, burning redactions and footers, and creating proper image folders along with load files. This is probably something you’ll have to do on a regular basis.
