Company Combines Software and Experts to Help Corporations Control the Chaos around Discovery
NEW YORK — January 29, 2007 — From the LegalTech New York 2007 conference, Attenex Corp., a leading e-discovery software provider, today announced the release of version 4.0 of the Attenex® Patterns® E-Discovery Software, an open software platform that lets corporations and their law firms establish standardized e-discovery processes, providing dramatic reductions in the time, effort and costs associated with e-discovery. In addition to its latest software release, Attenex also announced the formation of an advisory group on e-discovery best practices for corporations and the introduction of software certification programs for attorneys. Attenex now provides the flexible software, experts and best practices that corporations need to change the way they manage e-discovery.
“Large corporations tell us that there’s a lot of chaos around e-discovery. There are a lot of steps in the process, response times are short, and there are a number of different groups involved — corporate legal departments, IT, outside counsel and often various service providers,” said Kimra Hawley, CEO of Attenex. “Because of this complexity the results are inconsistent and their corporate data ends up in too many places. It’s an expensive fire drill every time and corporations are fed up. Over the last two years, we’ve worked with a number of Fortune 1000 corporations to put order around this chaos and help find what’s relevant fast. Our latest release is the result of that experience. It’s a software platform that integrates and manages the steps in the discovery process so companies and their law firms can standardize on a set way of doing discovery every time. They get better results faster, have improved control and spend a lot less money.”
An increased demand for electronic information by regulatory agencies and developments such as the recently amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) have motivated corporations to take more direct control of the discovery process — including collecting, processing, analyzing and producing the necessary electronically stored information (ESI) — during litigation, investigations and regulatory compliance. Proven through use in many of the industry’s most demanding enterprise and service provider environments, the Attenex Patterns software provides corporations with an extensible e-discovery platform. For example, Broadcom, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, recognized the need to take more active control of the e-discovery process. “Broadcom selected Attenex Patterns to increase internal control of our e-discovery process,” said Geoffrey Aranoff, director of information security. “In addition to increasing our control over company data for e-discovery, the Attenex software helped Broadcom dramatically reduce e-discovery expenses.”
Flexible Deployment Options
Attenex provides corporations with flexible deployment options that are unique in the industry. Corporations can deploy its software on-premise, in a hosted environment managed by an Attenex Advantage™ partner, or in a custom combination tailored to the demands of the customer’s environment. However, companies need more than just software to help centrally manage their discovery projects, especially since an average enterprise customer is managing more than 100 concurrent matters. Developing a defensible process that works across multiple law firms and service providers requires qualified experts who understand the best practices in the emerging area of electronic discovery. To this end, Attenex provides corporations with the ability to choose from the industry’s largest global network of legal service providers and consulting organizations. Attenex Advantage partners bring deep domain expertise that can help a corporation develop and implement a repeatable e-discovery process.
E-Discovery Best Practices for Corporations
To support the emerging needs of corporations to collect and share best practices, the company introduced an e-discovery advisory group comprised of leading e-discovery practitioners from the company’s base of Fortune 1000 customers. The advisory group will develop and exchange e-discovery best practices around the use of Attenex software while providing direct feedback on the Attenex product roadmap. Attenex has retained noted e-discovery industry expert George Socha to assist as the group defines an actionable framework for e-discovery based on Attenex software and industry standards such as the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM).
“Corporations are looking for ways to increase their control of the process in order to reduce the costs and risks of discovery and review,” said George Socha of Socha Consulting. “The objective of the advisory group is to provide a framework for corporations to define and implement a repeatable process for discovery and review by combining the practical considerations of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model with the real-world experience of leading corporations.”
Integrated and Flexible Software Platform
In 2006, Attenex software helped its users track more than one billion electronic documents through the process of discovery and review. The Attenex Patterns e-discovery platform provides the technical foundation on which corporations can integrate e-discovery into their overall data management strategy and keep control of the e-discovery process, even when discrete steps in the process are outsourced to law firms or service providers. The Attenex Patterns open API and software development kit (SDK) enable corporations to easily integrate Attenex Patterns with other applications as well as automate the loading of data, reducing time, expense and risk in the process. Attenex Connector Kits for several popular case management software applications will be announced later this year.
Industry-leading Analytics for Review and Investigations
More than 50 new features and enhancements extend the product’s leadership in the areas of e-discovery data processing, review and project management. For example, the Attenex Patterns software enables the re-use of documents previously processed and reviewed — including valuable attorney work such as document marks or annotations. For large enterprises, this re-use can eliminate expense associated with the same documents being examined multiple times to fulfill similar requests. New project management capabilities and reporting options provide customers with improved insight into reviewer productivity rates and project status. The Attenex Patterns software also now supports the clustering and review of documents written in 23 languages.
Enhancements to the industry-leading visual analytics tools in the Attenex Patterns software, such as a number of user interface features, provide new efficiencies to corporate legal departments. The product’s patented visualization and concept mapping capabilities help corporate legal departments and law firms more cost-effectively and accurately analyze documents to support the demands of investigations, regulatory compliance and litigation. According to a recent report from Barry Murphy, senior analyst for Forrester Research (Believe It — eDiscovery Technology Spending To Top $4.8 Billion By 2011, Forrester Research, Inc., December 2006), “The largest addressable cost in e-discovery is the cost of legal professionals who review data. Tools with visual analytics built in can make these legal professionals more efficient by determining whether or not data is relevant, is privileged, or even needs to be produced in response to a discovery request. Tools aimed at making lawyers with high hourly wages as efficient as possible represent the largest potential cost savings in e-discovery.”
Certified Reviewer Program
Attenex also announced market alliances with Hudson Legal and Compliance Inc. to provide certification programs for attorneys. “Hudson is increasingly asked to provide contract attorneys with Attenex experience for document review projects,” said Troy Gregory, Executive VP, Hudson Legal. “We are excited to work with Attenex to help meet this increasing market need.”
“Compliance has staffed dozens of Attenex review projects,” said Scott Becker, founder of Compliance Inc. “When our clients use Attenex for document review projects they see immediate benefits. It’s a powerful tool that helps them find what’s relevant quickly and cost-effectively.”
The Attenex Patterns software is available immediately from Attenex and Attenex Advantage Partners. Pricing is dependent on modules and usage. Attenex Patterns is currently deployed in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. For additional information, please visit www.attenex.com.
About Attenex
Attenex Corp. is changing the way corporations manage e-discovery. With an open software platform and industry expertise, Attenex enables corporations and their law firms to establish standardized e-discovery processes that reduce the risk, complexity and cost of litigation, regulatory requests and internal investigations. Whether deployed on-premise or as a hosted service through the industry’s largest network of global service providers, Attenex® Patterns® software provides corporations with control of e-discovery and the flexibility to choose the best solution for their needs. Attenex is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and more information is available at www.attenex.com.
Attenex Advantage Partners represent the industry’s largest network of experienced legal industry service providers and consulting organizations that offer Attenex software to dramatically reduce the total cost of discovery for their clients. For more information, visit http://www.attenex.com/partners/.