Past Winners
Take a look back at every winner in Innovation Awards history.
2025 Winners
Best Innovation: Beyond
CDS
CDS Vision Financial Analysis
Best Innovation: Beyond
CDS Vision Financial Analysis
CDS Vision Financial Analysis transforms structured financial data, often trapped in database and excel files, into individually analyzable components within Relativity – enabling users to filter and visualize millions of transactions by dates, entities, locations, and values with enhanced precision. By integrating generative AI for entity extraction and summarization, the solution streamlines investigations across complex datasets, significantly improving efficiency for clients such as financial investigators.
Best Innovation: Organize
Troutman eMerge
Split!
Best Innovation: Organize
eMerge Split!
eMerge Split! revolutionizes document unitization in Relativity by combining an intuitive, visually interactive interface with a custom-trained multimodal AI model, achieving over 94% accuracy in automatically detecting document boundaries – all without leaving Relativity’s document image viewer. This seamless integration enables Relativity users to quickly review, validate, and adjust AI-suggested boundaries – transforming a tedious, error-prone exercise into an accurate, streamlined process and dramatically reducing the associated burden and expense.
Best Innovation: Discover
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
HSF Kramer Snap
Best Innovation: Discover
HSF Kramer Snap
Are you facing challenges in quickly and efficiently reviewing image files? We developed Snap, a solution built within RelativityOne that leverages AI for image classification and identity document recognition. Snap enables your teams to automatically categorise images, generate intelligent summaries using AI, and extract relevant information - all within a single, seamless process.
Best Innovation: Act
Allens
Chronology Plus
Best Innovation: Act
Chronology Plus
Allens Chronology Plus integrates seamlessly with Relativity to transform how legal teams build and manage chronologies. By combining bi-directional document syncing with Relativity and generative AI, it automatically drafts event summaries from Relativity documents using custom lawyer prompts – dramatically reducing manual work while keeping lawyers in control.
Best Innovation: Workflows
IntrepidX
Hatch Waxman Pipeline Protection and Redaction Workflow
Best Innovation: Workflows
Hatch Waxman Pipeline Protection and Redaction Workflow
This workflow pairs an AI-driven triage step with Continuous Active Learning: aiR quickly groups the entire document set, distills key themes, and assigns preliminary responsiveness scores, then CAL uses those high-confidence labels to iteratively refine its own ranking. Think of it as an AI-first filter followed by a machine-learning “second opinion,� which together reduce the human-review pile and costs while preserving a clear, defensible audit trail.
Best Innovator: Access to Justice
Melissa Weberman
Counsel and Head of eDiscovery & Data Analytics Group - Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Best Innovator: Access to Justice
Melissa Weberman
Counsel and Head of eDiscovery & Data Analytics Group - Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Melissa Weberman, Counsel and head of Arnold & Porter’s eDiscovery & Data Analytics Group, leads the largest global pro bono deployment of RelativityOne via the Justice for Change program. In the past year her small team supported 86 pro bono matters involving 2.5 TB of data across housing, criminal, gender-based-violence, and systemic-racism cases. She oversees two of the first pro bono applications of Relativity aiR for Review and aiR for Case Strategy. She also speaks widely on using AI to narrow the justice gap. Melissa blends cutting-edge and time-tested tech to expand access to justice.
Best Innovator: Customer Experience
Daniel Smith
eDiscovery Consultant - A&O Shearman
Best Innovator: Customer Experience
Daniel Smith
eDiscovery Consultant - A&O Shearman
Daniel Smith is an e-discovery consultant at A&O Shearman, with nearly 25 years of industry experience. Over the past year, he has led innovation in the firm’s disputes practice by driving generative AI adoption and has enhanced client experience by delivering tailored training and support for numerous Relativity aiR matters. Dan’s passion for knowledge sharing is evident in his presentations on generative AI technology delivered both to the firm and at major events like Future Lawyer Week and Relativity Fest London. His expertise, humility, and curiosity make him a trusted e-discovery problem-solver.
Best Innovator: Inclusion
Nicole Allen
e-Discovery of Counsel - Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Best Innovator: Inclusion
Nicole Allen
e-Discovery of Counsel - Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Raised with a strong sense of service, Nicole Allen is dedicated to mentorship, inclusion, and advocacy for underrepresented communities. Shaped by her experience of often being the only minority in the room, she champions visibility and empowerment. At Kilpatrick, Nicole advances justice through pro bono work, tech innovation, and community service. She also mentors, supports survivors, and promotes equity through legal and educational initiatives. Her work reflects a deep commitment to creating inclusive, supportive environments where all can thrive.
Best Innovator: Legal Education
Andrew Pardieck
Professor - Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School
Best Innovator: Legal Education
Andrew Pardieck
Professor - Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School
Professor Pardieck graduated from Harvard College, Indiana University School of Law, and then completed a doctorate degree in law at the University of Hokkaido in Japan. He has practiced in the U.S, focusing on complex civil litigation, and in Japan, where he worked as General Counsel for Temple University, Japan Campus. He is currently a Professor of Law at the Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School, where he teaches courses, including e-discovery, and directs the school’s e-discovery pro bono project.
Best Innovator: Stellar Women
Sarah Cole
Director, Client Engagements - Cimplifi
Best Innovator: Stellar Women
Sarah Cole
Director, Client Engagements - Cimplifi
Sarah Cole is a relentless advocate for continuous process improvement, using structure to break bias and drive equity. Her passion lies in building cultures of excellence that elevate both performance and employee quality of life. A quiet force behind transformative change, she’s most fulfilled mentoring others toward technical confidence, career clarity, and self-advocacy and creating safe spaces for authentic leadership while questioning status quo of systems that inadvertently limit an equitable pursuit of excellence.
Best Innovation: Enterprise
Troutman Pepper eMerge - Flywheel
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
EY Switzerland – GenAI Toolbox
Best Innovation: Developer Partner
Milyli – Redaction Suggestions in Blackout
Artificial Intelligence
Ben Sexton, JND eDiscovery
Customer Experience
Jenna Rooney, Arete
Education & Mentorship
Deedra Smith, FTI Consulting
Security
Jenna Rooney, Arete
Inclusion
Vazantha Meyers, HaystackID
Stellar Women
Stephanie Goutos, Gunderson Dettmer
Best Innovation: Enterprise
Alston & Bird - MetaHistogram
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
Deloitte UK – Deloitte Audio Discovery powered by TrueVoice
Artificial Intelligence
Richard Finkelman, Berkeley Research Group
Customer Experience
Jeanne Somma, Lineal
Education & Mentorship
Megan Daviduke, Capital One
Inclusion
Rachel Williams, Charles River Associates
Security
Aneesha Gupta, metafinanz
Stellar Women
Natalie Lau, Allen & Overy
Spirit of Innovation
Juan Ramirez, NSerio
Best Innovation: Enterprise
Troutman Pepper eMerge – eMerge Xtractor
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
Lineal Services – Lineal Amplify and Lineal Images
Artificial Intelligence
Kelly Friedman, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Customer Experience
Adrian Agius, Gilbert + Tobin and United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability Against Da’esh/ISIL Crimes (UNITAD)
Education & Mentorship
Lauren Roso, ProSearch
Inclusion
Farrah Pepper, Marsh McClennan
Security
Inés Rubio, FTI Consulting
Stellar Women
Allison Stanton, Meta
Best Innovation: Enterprise
UNITAD - Zeteo
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
JND eDiscovery – Virtual Helpdesk
Best Innovation: Community Choice
Gilbert & Tobin – Hyperview
Lineal – AI Applications
Attorney Tech Evangelist
Alicia Hawley, Discovery Counsel
Corporate Tech Evangelist
Siva Palepu – Univeristy of Southern California
Stellar Women in e-Discovery
Heena Bhambhlani, EY Gloabl Delivery Services
Lit Support All-Star
Nikolai Pozdniakov, vdiscovery
Academic Innovator of the Year
Sara Skeens, Reynolds Community College
Inclusion Breakthrough of the Year
Christopher Campbell, Baker Hughes
AI Catalyst
Briordy Meyers, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI)
Best Innovation: Law Firm or Corporation
Herbert Smith Freehills - CheckMate
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
Deloitte UK – Audio Discovery
Best Innovation: Community Choice
Sky Discovery – Sky Photo Search
Attorney Tech Evangelist
Kate Bauer, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Corporate Tech Evangelist
Jada Payne, Voya Financial
Stellar Women in e-Discovery
Kenya Parrish-Dixon, Empire Technologies Risk Management Group
Lit Support All-Star
Rachel McAdams, A&L Goodbody
Academic Innovator of the Year
Joseph Vallette, Molloy College
Inclusion Breakthrough of the Year
Maribel Rivera, ACEDS
Best Innovation: Law Firm or Corporation
Kilpatrick Townsend – LitSmart Autotasker
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
icourts - GoX
Best Innovation: Community Choice
Clayton Utz – AcquiRE
Attorney Tech Evangelist
Cristin Traylor, McGuideWoods
In-House Tech Evangelist
Sara Skeens, Capital One
Stellar Women in e-Discovery
Stephanie Clerkin, Korein Tillery
Lit Support All-Star
Pavan Kotha, Deloitte
Academic Innovator of the Year
The Institute for the Future of Law Practice
Best Innovation: Law Firm or Corporation
Bricker & Eckler – Petition Analyzer
Best Innovation: Solution Provider
Deloitte – FOIA App
Best Innovation: Community Choice
Clayton Utz – Provisor
Attorney Tech Evangelist
Tessa Jacob, Husch Blackwell
Stellar Women in e-Discovery
Joy Murao, Practice Aligned Resources
Lit Support All-Star
Emma Young, Consilio
Academic Innovator of the Year
Peg Gianuca, UCLA Extension School
Best Solution Provider
H5 – H5 Matter Intelligence
Best Law Firm or Corporate Solution
Bricker & Eckler – Land Tracker
Community Choice
QDiscovery – QMobile Insight
Best Service Provider Solution
KrolLDiscovery – KrolLDiscovery A/V Suite for Relativity
Best Law Firm or Corporate Solution
Reed Smith – Consent Tracker
Best Community Choice Solution
KrolLDiscovery – KrolLDiscovery A/V Suite for Relativity
Best Law Firm or Corporate Solution
Reilly Pozner – Damages Calculator
Best Service Provider Solution
Kroll Ontrack – Kroll Ontrack Nearline
Best Community Choice Solution
Kroll Ontrack – Kroll Ontrack Nearline