Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC and Attenex Corporation Form Electronic Discovery Alliance
Joint Technology Solution Produces $180 Million Savings in One Matter
NEW YORK, September 16, 2003 – Attenex Corporation, a business-to-business software provider for the legal services industry, and Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC, which provides a full range of data related litigation support services, today announced an alliance to deliver comprehensive solutions to the civil litigation and anti-trust compliance markets in matters requiring electronic discovery, analysis, storage and production of large volumes of electronic data.
The alliance equips Forensics Consulting Solutions’ fixed and mobile electronic discovery and analysis teams with the Attenex™ Patterns® E-Discovery Platform, a concept-based document visualization tool that greatly enhances the ability to acquire and process substantial volumes of data. The companies’ software products and services combine to offer a full service solution to both corporate law departments and their outside counsel, thus eliminating the need to engage multiple vendors for data management during complex litigation. In addition, the single vendor model creates substantial cost savings and greater control for litigators.
“The volume of data that must be processed during complex litigation today – often in the terabyte range – has added significantly to the cost of litigation,” said Kelly “KJ” Kuchta, founder and president of Forensics Consulting Solutions. “Cost containment has become one of the prime directives from our clients, and the Attenex Patterns product has proven to be the major contributor for us to accomplish that.”
This sentiment is echoed by Attenex CEO Skip Walter: “Just 18 months ago, our customers were reviewing matters in the 50 gigabyte range. Twelve months ago, the largest matters were two hundred gigabytes. Today, we are seeing matters of tens of terabytes or more. This represents a thousand-fold increase in the amount of electronic data being reviewed in a very short period of time.”
A recent case, involving the acquisition and processing of 50 terabytes of data, clearly validates the effectiveness of the Attenex-Forensics Consulting Solutions process. Offering to use traditional methods of TIFF conversion and manual paper review, a well known and respected electronic discovery vendor provided an estimate of $200 - 250 million. Most of the costs were for a team of 275 contract attorneys required to review the printed documents over an 18-month period. By utilizing the Patterns product, Forensics Consulting Solutions processed the same amount of data and reduced the cost of reviewing the potential responsive data to $20 million, while using only 40 attorneys and completing the project in just four months. This represents a 90 percent decrease in cost and a 97 percent decrease in overall attorney time.
“Our recent survey indicates that 71 percent of legal professionals believe the cost associated with e-discovery is a major challenge,” said Kuchta. “This is precisely why the alliance between FCS and Attenex is so critical – our comprehensive solution dramatically reduces the time legal professionals spend on e-discovery, thus considerably lowering costs associated with e-discovery.”
About Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC
Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC are leading experts of electronic discovery projects for matters that include civil litigation and the mergers and acquisitions markets. Clients include many of the largest corporations and law firms in the country. The company completes projects nationwide and is located at 4530 E. Shea, Ste. 110, Phoenix, AZ 85028 U.S.A. For additional information visit www.forensicsconsulting.com or contact Kathy Brown, Client Liaison at 602-354-2772 email: kbrown@forensicsconsulting.com.
About Patterns E-Discovery Platform
Attenex’s Patterns software transforms the efficiencies surrounding the process of electronic discovery by pairing computer power with lawyers’ brain power to substantially reduce the time spent on clerical and technical tasks associated with discovery. Instead of treating electronic documents solely as bodies of text that can be indexed and keyword searched, Attenex Patterns approaches them as collections of concepts. The software then displays them in the aggregate as a visual map showing clusters of conceptually related documents. This allows attorneys and legal practitioners to review and make high-quality decisions on a much higher volume of documents per hour, quickly separating the clearly relevant from the clearly irrelevant documents. These efficiencies provide law firms and corporations with a way to proactively manage the time and cost associated with the review of potentially discoverable documents.
About Attenex Corporation
Attenex was formed by Preston Gates & Ellis LLP as a result of the firm’s 10-year technology initiative to discover new ways to manage costs, improve efficiencies, and provide better service to their clients through the use of innovative technologies. Headquartered in Seattle, this business-to-business software company provides tools, and best practices to corporate legal departments and their law firms to improve the efficiency of document intensive processes, such as electronic document discovery in litigation and drafting of complex legal documents. More information about the company and its products can be found at www.attenex.com.