Our Time at NAMWOLF’s 2022 Annual Meeting
This last week, Everest Discovery sponsored the NAMWOLF 2022 Annual Meeting that took place in Chicago with owner and president, Sue Pellegrino and managing director John Trickey, attending this event.
Everest Discovery Sponsoring NAMWOLF’s 2022 Annual Meeting
Everest Discovery LLC, a leading national litigation support and eDiscovery provider, today announced the company is sponsoring the NAMWOLF 2022 Annual Meeting taking place September 18-21 in Chicago.
Camp Achieve: Epilepsy Foundation of Eastern Pennsylvania
Everest Discovery founder and president Sue Pellegrino has been volunteering at Camp Achieve for the past 15 years, and the company has also participated as a corporate sponsor.
Everest Discovery Establishes Pro Bono Hosting Partnership Through Relativity’s Justice For Change
Everest Discovery Establishes Pro Bono Hosting Partnership through Relativity's Justice for Change
Everest Discovery will support Justice for Change grant recipients in their use of RelativityOne
August 30, 2022
Everest Discovery LLC, a leading national litigation support and eDiscovery provider, today announced its designation as a Hosting Partner with Relativity’s Justice for Change program. This partnership will enable Everest Discovery to provide hosting, administrative and project management support to grant recipient organizations in their use of RelativityOne.
Through the program, organizations without a RelativityOne license or litigation support experience will be paired with a Relativity service provider or law firm to offer the software or support needed. As a RelativityOne certified partner since 2019, Everest is participating in the program and offering project management support to organizations in the program.
“When we learned of this program, we were thrilled to participate and offer our services and expertise to help make legal services more accessible to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have that support,” states Sue Pellegrino, owner and president of Everest Discovery. “Our team has assisted with two cases already, and we look forward to whatever additional support we can provide to make the legal system more available to all.”
Relativity’s Justice for Change program focuses on increasing access to justice by providing free use of its cloud-based eDiscovery product RelativityOne to organizations tackling legal cases and academic and policy research related to racial and social justice. Specifically, Justice for Change has allocated 100TB of RelativityOne data to be used on pro bono projects led by customers or nonprofit organizations. Through the Justice for Change hosting partnership, Everest Discovery is committed to the continuous pursuit of justice through great pro bono work and building important connections.
“It is the expertise and generosity of our partners that enable us to make this great program possible,” says Johnathan Hill, community engagement lead at Relativity. “We’re thrilled to welcome Everest Discovery into the Justice for Change community and look forward to the impact they have supporting a nonprofit organization as they pursue a more just world.”
“As a nonprofit organization that works to protect and advocate for children who have been abused or exposed to interpersonal violence or coercive control, we were thrilled to learn of the Justice for Change program. It gives our legal team access to technology, expertise and resources we wouldn’t otherwise have, and we are thankful for the organizations that have all partnered to offer these services to this underserved community,” states Eileen King, founder and executive director of Child Justice, Inc.
Organizations, including current Relativity customers, doing legal work on behalf of racial justice that would benefit from software to help them organize and search documents and build out a case narrative can apply for free use of the cloud-based eDiscovery product RelativityOne. To learn more, visit: https://www.relativity.com/company/giving-back/justice-for-change/. To learn more about Everest Discovery LLC, please visit www.everestdiscovery.com.
About Everest Discovery LLC
Everest Discovery is a leading litigation support and eDiscovery provider serving legal departments, law firms and government agencies nationwide. Our core focus on solutions, service and security enables us to provide actionable insights that transform workflows, reduce risk and generate significant cost savings for our client base. We comprehensively address our clients’ business problems by incorporating best-of-breed technologies, knowledge-based services and a consultative approach. Everest is proud to be ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified, a WBENC-Certified Women’s Business Enterprise and a GSA contract holder with SBA-WOSB (Women-Owned Small Business) certification.
About Relativity
Relativity makes software to help users organize data, discover the truth and act on it. Its SaaS product RelativityOne manages large volumes of data and quickly identifies key issues during litigation and internal investigations. The AI-powered communication surveillance product, Relativity Trace proactively detects regulatory misconduct like insider trading, collusion and other non-compliant behavior. Relativity has more than 300,000 users in approximately 40 countries serving thousands of organizations globally primarily in legal, financial services and government sectors, including the U.S. Department of Justice and 199 of the Am Law 200. Relativity has been named one of Chicago’s Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for 10 consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at [email protected] or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information.
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Plan Ahead: Best Practices in Presenting Chat Data in Litigation
In this blog, we shed light on some of the most commonly used workflows for review of chat/conversation data preserved with Cellebrite UFED or collected through Cellebrite Cloud.
Meet the Team: John Trickey, Managing Director of Sales
Everest Discovery LLC, a leading national litigation support and eDiscovery provider, today announces Jim Corcoran has joined the company as vice president of sales. Corcoran brings 27 years of consultation expertise for law firms and corporate legal departments.
Everest Discovery Announces Josh Williams Promoted to Associate Director, eDiscovery
Everest Discovery Announces Josh Williams Promoted to Associate Director, eDiscovery
Philadelphia, PA—July 25, 2022—Everest Discovery LLC, a leading national
litigation support and eDiscovery provider, today announces the company has promoted Josh Williams to associate director of eDiscovery at the company.
Williams has been with the company since 2017 and has served as one of the company’s main subject matter experts on Relativity. As a senior project manager, he was instrumental in providing clients with his expertise and knowledge on the hundreds of cases he has supported. His experience is wide-ranging and includes eDiscovery, data processing, analytics, review workflows, production and case strategy management.
“Everest Discovery is a great organization with a fantastic team,” states Williams. “This new role will allow me to provide support to our client base while continuing to develop new processes and procedures to transform workflows, test and implement new solution offerings and work alongside our project management team to maintain operational effectiveness.”
“Josh is a tremendous asset to our team, and this promotion is very well deserved,” states Sue Pellegrino, president and owner of Everest Discovery. “His constant thinking outside the box and willingness to go the extra mile for each and every client are so valued. We look forward to the leadership he will provide to others at the company in this new role.”
To learn more about Everest Discovery LLC, please visit www.everestdiscovery.com.
About Everest Discovery LLC
Everest Discovery is a leading litigation support and eDiscovery provider serving legal departments, law firms and government agencies nationwide. Our core focus on solutions, service and security enables us to provide actionable insights that transform workflows, reduce risk and generate significant cost savings for our client base. We comprehensively address our clients’ business problems by incorporating best-of-breed technologies, knowledge-based services and a consultative approach. Everest is proud to be ISO 27001 certified, a certified WBENC Women’s Business Enterprise, a WOSB (Women-Owned Small Business) certified via the SBA and a GSA contractor.
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Event Recap: The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council
Event Recap: The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council
Every year, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, provider of one of the most respected certifications for women-owned businesses, holds its national conference bringing together thousands of women business owners and their teams, supplier diversity professionals and procurement and senior executive representatives from the Fortune 1000 and federal government to create opportunities for women entrepreneurs across the country.
The WBENC National Conference is the largest event of its kind for women business owners. This year’s conference, celebrating the event’s 25th anniversary, took place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on June 6-9. Everest Discovery was happy to have two of our own attend this year – Sue Pellegrino, president and chief financial officer, and John Trickey, director of sales.
Networking and Education
The event was an incredible opportunity for Sue and John to connect in person with other women-owned businesses and their teams and watch demos to learn about their products and services. Everest belongs to WBENC East, and the conference gave us the chance to network with people in our own backyard and meet with our regional partner organization members. Most of the companies Sue and John connected with had their head of supplier diversity and procurement buyers in attendance.
Through the course of three jam-packed days, Sue and John got to interact with representatives of over 300 women-owned businesses. The Meet & Greet was a great opportunity to network and connect with other corporate members in an open but structured format – almost like speed dating for businesses. The various receptions were another chance for networking, as well as offering plenty of fun, food, and libations.
A highlight of the conference was the informative seminars and speakers. One that stood out was a fireside chat with federal government representatives about small business procurement. The session explained how the SBA and GSA have increased their support for small businesses with new leadership and resources for accessing the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program. The fireside chat also explored the ways Women Impacting Public Policy is advocating for change for women on Capitol Hill, with a theme of getting involved and sharing your voice. Attendees left with plenty of tips and guidance for working with the federal government.
Another informative session, entitled “Positioned to Thrive,” focused on evaluating your business and strategies for growth and protection. The panel discussed the importance of knowing the value of your business, as well as the things that are driving or limiting that value. Among the big messages was the need to have owner life insurance as part of your business continuity plan so that you know how your business will survive when you’re no longer there to run it.
Small Business Trends
Several trends emerged as takeaways from the conference. First, companies are seeking a greater buy-in from their legal departments to implement diverse purchasing initiatives. Second, many companies are not only trying to get their legal departments to support diverse companies, but also to allocate their spend through strategic sourcing to realize cost savings. Finally, legal spend is emerging as an area for great overall cost reduction if traditional purchasing procedures are utilized.
The entire event was very well organized, with its own devoted app that provided the schedule of events, bios for speakers and exhibitors and a place to take notes. Shuttles took attendees to the convention center, as well as to an enjoyable night at the Atlanta Aquarium, featuring the beluga whales exhibit, karaoke and a fun, relaxed time for everyone who attended. If you’re thinking of joining WBENC in the future, we recommend comfortable shoes!
Everest Discovery is proud to be a WBENC-certified Women’s Small Business Enterprise and an SBA-certified Women-Owned Small Business. To learn more about how Everest can support your organization’s eDiscovery and litigation support operations through actionable insights that will transform your workflows, reduce risk and generate significant cost savings, contact us today.
Meet the Team: Dennis Roberts, Chief Operating Officer – From Law Firm to Service Provider
Meet the Team:
Dennis Roberts, Chief Operating Officer – From Law Firm to Service Provider
As chief operating officer and co-owner of Everest Discovery, Dennis Roberts is instrumental in driving growth for the company at a time when the legal tech industry is rapidly changing and evolving. With his background and areas of expertise, Roberts is the perfect person for this role.
The Law Firm World
Roberts understands clients’ needs better than anyone as he spent the first couple decades of his career in law firms. He began his career as a paralegal and litigation support analyst at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen where he eventually helped set up the electronic discovery department. He then moved on to Reed Smith where he served as a senior litigation technology analyst for more than a decade. However, he realized that he wanted to be more involved in making decisions that would affect clients. He wanted to have more say in efficiencies, cost savings and responsiveness. He knew moving to a vendor was what he needed if this was the role he wanted for his future.
Unmatched Technology and Service
Because Roberts came to Everest directly from the law firm environment, he understands firsthand the importance of making sure Everest has not only the best technology offerings, but also unmatched customer service for its clients. After all, he was the client for many years.
“Being at Everest means I can ensure we offer flexibility for our customers and make quicker decisions when it comes to delivering what they need. The outside-the-box thinking we have at Everest wasn’t something that worked in the law firm environment,” states Roberts.
At Everest, Roberts works with each client to determine the best technology solution for its specific needs and then helps to implement that solution. “We can provide consultation to our clients to make eDiscovery more efficient and cost-effective,” adds Roberts.
Security
Cybersecurity is an ongoing concern for all organizations, and law firms are not immune. When the company was first purchased by Roberts and Pellegrino, they immediately started working with other executives to get Everest ISO certified to make sure they are doing everything they can to protect the vast amounts of sensitive and confidential client information they work with. An ISO certification signifies a seriousness about security and that the company is dedicated to creating the safest environment for the data that goes through Everest for clients.
The Importance of Teamwork
Roberts understands the importance of having someone on the team that knows the case, knows the client and is a main point of contact for the client. That is why the company makes sure project managers are assigned to specific cases. In addition, the team holds regular scrum meetings – a 15-minute gathering of the operations team where you ask just three questions:
- What did you do yesterday?
- What are you doing today?
- What obstacles are in your way?
This gives the team the opportunity to work together to ensure clients have the best process in place for their case. While each case has a dedicated project manager, it’s nice to know what everyone is working on, who can assist each other and that there is support to get out-of-the-box solutions when needed. Roberts knows the importance of having synergy between operations and sales and making sure there is constant communication taking place.
These meetings allow for quick discussion and make everyone aware of what else is happening. That way, if someone is out of the office, others can step in if needed at any point in time.
Roberts makes sure that the company partners with the best-of-breed companies and has trusted partnerships in place. “We are all at Everest because we want the best for our clients,” adds Roberts. “This is a team I am proud of. We have built a great culture and work environment.”
The 6 Steps Law Firms Need to Take to Become ISO Certified
The 6 Steps Law Firms Need to Take to Become ISO Certified
By Mihir Mistry and Sue Pellegrino
In a world where cybersecurity is a critical, ongoing concern, law firms need to be doing everything they can to protect the vast amounts of sensitive and confidential information they possess. We’ve already seen major law firms fall victim to the devastating security breaches at the hands of sophisticated hackers.
Now is the time for law firms to show their commitment to keeping their client data secure. The International Organization for Standardization currently develops and publishes the most highly respected international security standards and offers certification for law firms that want to demonstrate their commitment to security. ISO certification is a time-intensive process, but one that is worth it for the peace of mind and competitive advantage it offers.
What Is ISO Certification for Law Firms?
An ISO certification is a signal to your clients and others in the industry that you’re serious about security and dedicated to creating the safest environment for the data you handle. The relevant certification standard for law firms is ISO 27001, pertaining to Information security management.
As cybersecurity concerns continue to increase, more and more of your clients will be looking at ISO certification as a key measure in evaluating outside counsel hiring decisions. Therefore, ISO certification is not just a valuable component of security, it’s also increasingly a requirement for maintaining a competitive advantage in a tight legal market.
The Steps to ISO Certification
Obtaining your ISO certification is a process that typically takes nine months to a year. In that time, Zaviant will guide you through the following six steps to ensure that the process goes smoothly.
Step 1: Discover
The first step is to develop your organizational content. This starts with a current state analysis, where you assess everything in your security environment – including your people, process and technology. The goal is to get a realistic picture of how secure you are now and where you can stand to make improvements.
Step 2: Plan
After you know where you stand, you need to establish a clear plan for where you need to get in order to be ready for certification. This includes defining the scope of your activities and creating a Statement of Applicability that makes clear how you’ll treat any risks you’ve perceived in your security, including the processes, systems and stakeholders involved. It’s critical to have your leadership on board if your plan is to succeed.
Step 3: Do
A few months of your certification process will involve implementing the measures and procedures necessary to meet ISO 27001 standards. This includes developing a clear security manual for your firm, training your workforce on that manual and reviewing their activities. You’ll also be implementing a vulnerability and penetration testing program designed to internally spot and exploit any security vulnerabilities that still exist, which mimics formal vulnerability and penetration testing that will be later performed as part of the ISO 27001 certification process.
Step 4: Check
After you’ve implemented and reviewed your new security measures, it’s time to truly put them to the test. ISO 27001 is designed to certify that your firm’s information security management system is effective for your firm’s purposes and potential risks. Therefore, you need to conduct an official ISMS review to make sure your objectives remain appropriate and that you’re meeting them. We conduct this review by monitoring and analyzing key KPIs in a sophisticated metrics dashboard.
Step 5: Act
The final step before you turn things over to an external auditor is to conduct a strict internal audit to confirm that you’re properly following your new policies and procedures and that you have an organizationwide understanding of the ramifications for failing to do so. If anything fails your audit, now is the time to take care of any leftover remediation steps.
Step 6: Certify
The last step is to undergo an official audit led by an external auditor. The Stage 1 Audit reviews your management system documentation, and auditors will evaluate your security conditions, KPIs, processes, procedures and more. If you pass Stage 1, the Stage 2 Audit evaluates whether your processes are in compliance with your management systems. If errors are found, you’ll have a chance to correct them. Once you successfully pass the Stage 2 Audit, you’ll obtain ISO certification.
Showing a serious commitment to security, and specifically obtaining ISO certification, is critical to remaining competitive in today’s legal market.
Check out an article from the May 2022 issue of Cybersecurity Law & Strategy on this topic – The Importance of ISO Certification for Law Firms.
About the Authors:
Mihir Mistry is the vice president of security and operations at Zaviant Consulting, a leader in cybersecurity, data privacy and compliance consulting.
Sue Pellegrino is the owner, president and CFO of Everest Discovery, a leading national litigation support and eDiscovery provider.
