News & Press

ECA and Investigation is now available alongside today’s release of Relativity 9.4, helping legal teams assess risk and make informed decisions at the start of a matter; the new release also includes 170 enhancements across the platform. kCura today announced the release of Relativity ECA and Investigation—a brand new solution for early case assessment (ECA) and digital investigations. Fully integrated in Relativity, ECA and Investigation allows users to take advantage of all of Relativity’s analytics and visualization capabilities to better understand the context of a data collection. By turning to analytics at any point—including email threading and near-duplicate detection—it’s simple to isolate potentially relevant items, reveal context, and prioritize what’s most important. “Corporations today struggle with large amounts of custodial data. Relativity ECA and Investigation provides a straightforward way to whittle down that data so our attorneys aren’t wasting time on irrelevant information,” said Tina Garbarino, e-discovery manager at NBC Universal. A centralized dashboard provides real-time insight into how an analysis is progressing and customizable templates help guide any workflow. Additionally, it’s easy to share ECA and Investigation data and collaborate with external law firms or service providers that use Relativity. “ECA has been around for a while, so we wanted to deliver an altogether new solution that really adapted to the fact that corporate data is continuing to grow in both size and complexity,” said Dean Gonsowski, vice president of business development at kCura.  “By building Relativity ECA and Investigation seamlessly into our platform, customers can use the most relevant and valuable investigatory features available today—such as analytics and data visualizations—to gain quicker insights and to predict the risks and cost of potential litigation better than they ever could before.” Relativity ECA and Investigation was originally announced at the Relativity Spring Roadshow in London this May as part of Relativity 9.4, which includes a total of 170 new features and enhancements that simplify the process of understanding and taking action on data, such as:

• Bringing analytics visualizations together with document metadata within a dashboard, so users can clearly and easily see how concepts and themes intersect with important pieces of information—providing powerful search and analysis capabilities.
• More granular security controls in Legal Hold to grant unique project and communication permissions to users.
• Improved overall speeds of processing, production, and the document viewer, with storage requirements for processing reduced by up to 50 percent.

For more information about Relativity 9.4, visit this page.  

Ontario-based law firm licenses Relativity for processing through production, including comprehensive analytics capabilities. CHICAGO, IL and LONDON, ON - June X, 2016 – kCura, developers of the e-discovery software Relativity, today announced that Siskinds LLP has licensed Relativity. Siskinds is a Canada-based firm practicing in more than 25 areas of law, and will use Relativity in their class action group to better manage and analyze documents used for litigation and investigations. Relativity is a fully-featured e-discovery platform with comprehensive analytics and visualizations that can be leveraged to address every stage of the e-discovery lifecycle in a single system. Relativity allows users to create and automate custom workflows, take advantage of a complete set of text analytics capabilities including computer-assisted review, and make use of fully integrated processing capabilities—so case teams can ingest data and begin review quickly without leaving the system. “It was important to us to have a robust e-discovery platform where we could manage our data all in one repository,” said Dawn Sullivan, e-discovery counsel at Siskinds. “Having the right tools to find the relevant information is key in a fast-moving practice, and the extensive analytics tools will help us speed up the review process significantly.” Additionally, Siskinds was drawn to Relativity for the accompanying support and vast community built around the product. “I’ve implemented a lot of new technologies, and a huge differentiator for our experience with kCura was the community of partners available to offer expertise and resources, and the level of customer support provided through every step of the process,” said Ryan Bryson, manager of information technology for Siskinds. “It was a seamless transition to migrate our cases to Relativity, understand the existing functionality, and immediately start simplifying the e-discovery process for our own customers.” “We’ve always seen the community around Relativity as being a critical part of our customers’ success with our software,” said Nick Robertson, chief operating officer at kCura. “It’s important to us to foster an engaged and connected community of users—and it’s great that Siskinds is excited to be a part of it.” To learn more about the Siskinds class action group, visit http://www.siskinds.com/class-actions/.

The scholarships, open to anyone attending an ABA-approved law school or paralegal program in the US, provides future lawyers and paralegals the opportunity to network with and learn from the brightest minds and top employers in the e-discovery industry. CHICAGO - July 15^th, 2016 – kCura, developers of the e-discovery software Relativity, today announced 10 Relativity Fest student scholarships that will provide an opportunity for future lawyers and paralegals to attend the annual e-discovery conference Relativity Fest. Both undergraduate and graduate students from law schools and paralegal programs approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) are eligible to apply for the scholarship by August 15, 2016. The award covers transportation, lodging, meals, and event registration. To be considered for a scholarship, applicants must complete an application and secure a recommendation from a litigation or e-discovery professor. Scholarship recipients will be announced on September 1, 2016. “Relativity Fest provides a unique educational opportunity for the lawyers and paralegals of tomorrow,” said Nick Robertson, chief operating officer at kCura. “We’re excited to assist students and educational institutions in developing practical technology and e-discovery skills and, as a result, help the industry advance overall.” The inaugural Relativity Fest student scholarships came out of the Relativity Academic Partner program, an educational initiative that provides law schools and paralegal programs with free access to hands-on training in Relativity and helps prepare students for future roles in the field. Announced during Relativity Fest last year, the program started with 50 schools, and more than 20 schools have since joined. As part of the program, universities and their instructors have access to additional educational and informational resources, including in-person training, the Relativity Customer Portal, and kCura’s support team. Relativity Fest will take place in Chicago on October 9-11, 2016.  The conference is designed to educate and connect the e-discovery community through engaging panel discussions, hands-on labs, breakout sessions, and more.    

Public school in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood has been selected to receive a milestone-contingent grant of $250,000, awarded annually by kCura to level the technology playing field for under-resourced students. CHICAGO – June 13, 2016 – kCura, a Chicago-based legal technology company, and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) today announced the 2016 recipient of the Wired to Learn grant. The grant is a key element of kCura Gives, kCura’s community outreach program that works to ensure youth in the community have access to the technology, equipment, and training they need to be successful in today’s work environment. Created in 2013 and awarded annually, the Wired to Learn grant is a three-year, milestone-contingent grant of up to $250,000 that provides resources to help teachers integrate technology into their everyday curriculum. To be eligible for the competitive grant, schools must have more than 80 percent of their student population eligible for free or reduced lunch, and have less than a 1:1 device-to-student ratio. This year’s recipient, Funston Elementary, stood out among 57 applicants due to their community commitment and long-term plan for the technology resources that Wired to Learn can provide. During the application process, parents and teachers alike were highly engaged in envisioning a curriculum that supports both the students and broader Humboldt Park community. The school first plans to improve the personalized learning experiences available to their students, investing in personal devices like iPads and Chromebooks, and building a teacher cohort to grow their skills in integrating technology into the classroom. Since the implementation of the kCura Gives program, kCura has provided more than $1.5 million dollars through Wired to Learn and other giving initiatives to improve students’ learning experiences and prepare them for college and careers. The 2014 Wired to Learn recipient schools, Pickard and Ruggles Elementary, both moved up to the District’s highest school rating level—Level 1+—within one year of receiving the grant. “Our schools have done tremendous things with the Wired to Learn grant, which has improved access to the cutting edge technology that is vital to a well-rounded 21^st century education,” said CPS Chief Education Officer Dr. Janice K. Jackson. “We appreciate kCura’s continued support of CPS schools, and we are committed to leveraging these resources to make sure our students are prepared for a successful future.” kCura’s Wired to Learn grant was designed as an open-source framework for other companies to get involved with bringing technology to schools that need it. Other companies who are interested in implementing the process on their own terms in Chicago are invited to reach out to kCura. Through the grant, organizations can fund the purchase of new technology, donate existing technology or software, or help participate in technology mentoring activities for students and teachers. The plug-and-play design of the Wired to Learn program is meant to enable companies to give back in whatever way works best for them with the resources they have. “We believe in the power of technology, and we want the next generation to have the tools they need for whatever careers they desire in whatever community they choose,” said Dorie Blesoff, chief people officer at kCura. “What’s most exciting about Wired to Learn is that we can leverage it to build something bigger than we can do alone. We want to help every interested organization give back and ultimately have a defining impact on the community.” Those interested in learning more about kCura Gives and how to start a Wired to Learn grant program at their organization can contact kcuragives@kcura.com.

A Chicago-based tech company led by a man of Polish origin opens a development center in Malopolska. “I’m Polish and I’ve always wanted to invest in Poland,” says Andrew Sieja, founder and CEO of the U.S. tech company kCura. At the end of September last year his dream came true – his company, which is a global leader in e-discovery, opened its office in Krakow. Andrew (in fact Andrzej) Sieja is another example of Polish immigrants who succeeded in the tech industry abroad. Since an early age Andrew has been cherishing his Polish roots - he spent almost every summer with his grandparents in Poland. “In 2001, together with two colleagues from a previous workplace, we decided to open a tech company. In the beginning we provided consulting services,” says Andrew Sieja. kCura is made of two words – “k” from “knowledge” in English and “cura” in Latin, which means management and care. Business breakthrough occurred in 2004 when a litigation giant Foley & Lardner hired kCura to create a platform for managing documents. This was the beginning of Relativity, kCura’s main product. Andrew Sieja explains that the software allows organizations to manage huge sets of documents, which simplifies decision-making during the litigation process. The solution is used primarily by law firms, however, it is also used by the government (one of the clients is the U.S. Department of Justice) and litigation support service providers. Today kCura serves more than 10,000 organizations. “One of the largest cases supported by our software contained more than 700 million documents,” says Andrew Sieja. The founder of kCura started considering investing in Poland two years ago. The first task was to find a general manager who would be ready to start and develop kCura’s office in Poland. He has chosen Tomasz Gajek, who has previously worked for IT centers in Poland that belonged to companies like hybris, a SAP software company, and Sabre – another U.S. company that builds reservation systems for airlines. “First we wanted to open an office in Wroclaw, but Tomasz convinced me that Krakow would be a much better choice,” says Andrew Sieja. The Krakow office has already hired its first employees. Andrew Sieja doesn’t want to disclose yet how many people the company is going to hire in Poland. He expects that the recruitment process may take some time due to quite intense talent competition in the tech field in Krakow. Investing into Poland is important to Andrew for both professional and personal reasons. kCura is another tech company that has been tempted by great potential of Polish programmers, who are also seen as some of the best in the world. The Krakow office is meant to be a development center that will continue to revolutionize kCura’s existing product and increase the pace of innovation. kCura’s European sales office is located in London, UK. “We’re a part of a big data business, so potentially our products could expand to other industries as well,” says Andrew Sieja. This expansion to new market segments may happen in the future, however, there is still plenty of space to grow for kCura in its niche market. According to Gartner, this Chicago-based company is a global leader in the e-discovery space. The e-discovery market is worth $10 billion USD and is expected to grow by 10% yearly. kCura has money to accelerate its growth and expansion on the global market (17% of kCura’s revenue is generated outside of the US already). At the beginning of 2015 Iconiq Capital, an investment company, famous for investing in a Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and managing Mark Zuckerberg’s (founder of Facebook) fortune, has invested in kCura. They paid $125 million USD for a minority stake in the e-discovery leader.

Sam Bock, editor of the Relativity Blog, writes about the role that millennials are shaping in the e-discovery industry for an article in Legaltech News.