Announcing the Winners of The 2021 Culler Awards

What do our 2021 Culler Awards nominees do to deserve so much recognition? 

They save millions of dollars by in-housing eDiscovery. They build world-class litigation management processes. They dig deep into the evidentiary archives to free the wrongfully convicted. And they save the Planet. 

They’re also setting the new standards of eDiscovery in three different categories—Innovation, Excellence, and Impact. 

At Logikcull, we’re honored to contribute to those amazing missions, and they act as our North Star for building a better product every day. 

Let’s unveil all nominees and winners for each of the three categories! (You can also watch the full ceremony below.)

eDiscovery Innovation

For customers who are setting new standards of discovery workflows and approaches. 

Nominees:

• Renee Bea, Partner at Slarskey LLC
• Jennifer Resnicke, eDiscovery Specialist at Herrig & Vogt LLP
• Liz Victor, Senior Paralegal at Williams
• Terence Leong, Senior Counsel, Litigation at Compass
• Shawn Williams, Public Records Access Officer at the City of Boston

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‍Renee Bea, Slarskey LLC

By being more agile and productive than their adversaries, Slarskey LLP is able to outmaneuver even the biggest, most well-resourced adversaries. How? By leveraging the tools and know-how that enable them to get their hands on evidence early—all while saving a ton of money and offering a better service to their clients. Bea and team are always on the front seat when it comes to trying out new features and tools—even at critical times like in the middle of a trial!

‍Jennifer Resnicke, Herrig & Vogt LLP‍

Herrig & Vogt is a boutique law firm that deals with construction litigation. By running Logikcull single-handedly, Resnicke has helped transform the firm from one that (in her words) “was struggling to keep up” to a high-powered team that can easily handle TB cases.

That was only possible after they brought the entire eDiscovery process in house, which enables the team to slash by half the time and money spent on simple administrative tasks. They're now able to manage even the largest cases all themselves, with no external help whatsoever.

‍Liz Victor, Williams‍

There’s a reason why Victor’s session at InHouse 21 was called The In-House Culling Playbook. Liz and her team at Williams were among Logikcull’s first corporate customers and, since then, they haven’t stopped creating innovative new methods for early case assessment and data reduction. The result? A cull rate of over 98 percent!

‍Terence Leong, Compass ‍

With a truly innovative spirit, Leong leverages technology to spend time only on those tasks that truly move the needle. Through his approach to handling subpoena response and internal investigations in house, he is increasing business intelligence and streamlining workflows. That's why the team at Compass has been able to reduce the time to manage subpoena responses from days to just hours.

‍Shawn Williams, City of Boston

As the Public Records Access Officer at the City of Boston, Williams and his team are able to turn around no fewer than six thousand public records requests every year—more than 20 a day! With a drive for innovation, they’ve also found some new ways of utilizing Logikcull as a research and file management tool.

Winner, eDiscovery Innovation: Terence Leong, Compass

When your litigation team is growing fast, it’s important to establish the right processes and tools that can scale along with you, without putting efficiency at risk. By handling subpoenas in house, Leong is helping the team eliminate vendors’ management and storage fees, as well as all the “ring-and-roll” communication with them. Their new process sets the entire team up for success, regardless of its size. 

eDiscovery Excellence‍

For legal teams that are establishing new standards of discovery and reimagining the legal practice.

Nominees: 

• Dawn Irvin, Paralegal at Unisys
• Clinton Sanko, Shareholder at Baker Donelson, and Tony Mendenhall, Director of eDiscovery Operations at Baker Donelson
• Ed Colavito, Paralegal at Sills Cummis & Gross P.C
• Tammy Thompson, Director, Litigation Services at Worley
• A. Lynne Scott, Paralegal at Kaplin Stewart
• Michael Yager, Director of eDiscovery, Litigation, and Cybersecurity at Woods Rogers PLC

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Dawn Irvin, Unisys

A long-time eDiscovery innovator, Irvin uses Logikcull to handle third-party subpoenas and internal investigations internally—and at a moment’s notice. This strategy is saving Unisys tens of thousands of dollars every month. In fact, Dawn describes everything they do in house as "pure cost savings." Read Unisys success story with Logikcull here. ‍

Clinton Sanko and Tony Mendenhall, Baker Donelson

Just because you’re a big firm doesn’t mean you can’t be fast and nimble—and Baker Donelson is proof of this. Through their leadership and vision, Sanko and Mendenhall have built true excellence into the fabric of Baker Donelson’s trial team, where everyone is empowered to manage eDiscovery on their own. This allows the firm’s attorneys to own the discovery process—with extreme efficiency, usability, and price predictability.

Ed Colavito, Sills Cummis & Gross P.C‍

While he describes himself as “not too techie,” Colavito has been a driving force in transforming his firm’s approach to discovery by moving from a costly vendor-based approach to managing every part of the process internally. That move is allowing Colavito to consistently meet deadlines, save costs, and offer a more efficient eDiscovery solution for clients.

Tammy Thompson, Worley

During her session at InHouse 21, Thompson showed us a side-by-side comparison of two very similar matters she supervised at Worley—one handled by vendors, with very minimal internal control, and one she handled all by herself using Logikcull. The total cost of the first matter exceeded one million dollars. The second one didn’t cost the team a single penny. That got Thompson her team’s respect and admiration, as well as a direct nomination for the Culler Awards.

A. Lynne Scott, Kaplin Stewart

The complexity of Kaplin Stewart’s former approach to eDiscovery forced A. Lynne Scott to become “the only eDiscovery person” in her firm. So she changed the approach. By introducing powerfully simple, DIY eDiscovery software, Scott empowered more people in the team to perform eDiscovery by themselves and handle multi-million dollar projects—all while increasing efficiency and cost savings.

Michael Yager, Woods Rogers 

If the Culler Awards had existed previously, Michael Yager could have been nominated for 20 years straight. That’s how long he’s been setting the standards of eDiscovery excellence for. 

In his position as the Director of eDiscovery, Litigation, and Cybersecurity at Woods Rogers, Yager manages a heavy caseload while complying with the firm’s eDiscovery due diligence along the entire spectrum of the EDRM. This allows them to work more efficiently, save costs for clients, and perform—in his words—”at platinum levels.”

Winner, eDiscovery Excellence: Clinton Sanko and Tony Mendenhall, Baker Donelson

If there is a customer that truly embodies the mission of democratizing discovery, it’s Baker Donelson. By taking the eDiscovery process from a small and specialized group to empowering the entire team to handle it by themselves, Sanko and Mendenhall have created a first-movers advantage for trials teams while keeping their customers’ interests first. Pure excellence!

eDiscovery Impact

For organizations that are creating a better approach to discovery in order to create a better world.

Nominees:

• Michael Semanchik, Managing Attorney at California Innocence Project
• Susan Kim, Executive Legal Assistant at UnCommon Law
• Linda Hunsinger, Litigation Support Manager at Earthjustice
• Esther Ritchin, Paralegal at Conservation Law Foundation
• Brittany Cramer, Litigation Paralegal Supervisor at Fairfax County

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Michael Semanchik, California Innocence Project‍

California Innocence Project’s mission is simple: to get wrongly convicted people out of prison, as well as to reduce the time it takes to do so, which is currently more than 16 years. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of documents are often in the way of that amazing mission, which is why Michael Semanchik and his team use Logikcull—so they can spend their time fighting for their clients, and not piecing together the record. 

Since 1999, the organization has been able to free 35 innocents, and they expect to make this number grow exponentially in years to come. They’ve also been able to enact legislation to fix some of the systemic flaws in the criminal justice system to more prevent innocent people from being convicted.

Susan Kim, UnCommon Law‍

More than 200,000 people in the United States are serving life sentences—and more than two-thirds of them are people of color. Susan Kim, Keith Wattley, and the team at UnCommon Law work with their clients, often for years, so they can successfully navigate parole and transition back into society. 

So far, the organization has been able to release 277 clients. All of them have housing, 91 percent are employed, and 99 percent have successfully remained out of prison. Thanks to this unique approach to improving violent crime, UnCommon Law Founder and Executive Director, Keith Wattley was selected as an inaugural Obama Foundation Fellow.

For this organization, using legal technology means saving attorney and legal assistant time, which they can put towards representing more people, creating an even bigger impact.

Linda Hunsinger, Earthjustice‍

Logikcull can’t save the planet. But it can help Earthjustice do so.

Among the more than 650 cases Earthjustice is working on, they are representing families in St. James Parish, Louisiana, which has been called “Cancer Alley” for the massive chemical complex that has arisen in the area. They are also representing native tribes in fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and work with organizations like the American Lung Association and the Sierra Club. And they do so as time- and cost-effectively as possible by using legal technology like Logikcull.

Esther Ritchin, Conservation Law Foundation

At the Conservation Law Foundation, Esther Ritchin and her team have a similar mission in New England. This organization is fighting for environmental initiatives related to climate change, healthy oceans, and clean water and air.

Esther uses Logikcull to be able to spend less time searching through documents, and more time looking for new cases to prosecute—including clean air litigation which can drastically reduce automobile emissions.

Brittany Cramer, Fairfax County

At Fairfax County, they are committed to preserving taxpayer dollars. That's why Brittany Cramer and her team are constantly looking for ways to work more efficiently and “do more with less.” With Logikcull, they're able to zero in on what they're looking for in their FOIA requests much faster, which leads to great savings for the county—and greater transparency for her constituents.

Winner, eDiscovery Impact: Linda Hunsinger, Earthjustice

If culling the noise in order to save the Planet is not worth a Culler Award—we don’t know what is!

Through her strong leadership, Linda has helped Earthjustice’s legal team significantly reduce the time it takes to review by eliminating all the noisy data first, to then focus on what matters. This strategy has allowed them to slash review time by half—time they can now spend advocating for the environment. 

Bravo, Linda, and the Earthjustice team!

Watch Amanda Sharp, Director of Legal Operations and Innovation at Earthjustice, receive the award on behalf of Linda and the entire organization:

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