Bracewell Embraces the Cutting Edge of Ediscovery with Everlaw
To compete as a law firm on the global stage in 2025, evolution is more a necessity than a luxury. With change as the only constant, organizations need to stay nimble, but also know when to throw their weight around.
It’s safe to say that Houston, Texas-based Bracewell has never been shy about embracing evolution, and matching it with an ambition that keeps them driving forward.
Founded in 1945, they remained local to their Houston roots for nearly 30 years before expanding nationally, following it with international expansion just one year after that.
Nearly eight decades later, with seven U.S. and three international offices operating across a range of industries, Bracewell’s evolution has never been more evident. For 10 years in a row, Chambers and Partners has ranked them Band 1 for oil and gas regulatory and litigation in the United States, one of only two law firms in the world to hold that distinction.
As the head of their ediscovery practice, partner David Shargel knows that staying on the cutting edge of technology is vital to the firm’s success, especially as it takes on larger and more complex matters than it ever has.
A Data Revolution
The reason modern matters have grown so large and complicated is due in part to the evolving nature of data in the digital age. Where discovery used to involve infinite stacks of paper, it’s now spread across technologies, formats, and mediums. The introduction of mobile data specifically has caused a headache due to the difficulty of searching through it.
“I can’t think of a matter we have that doesn’t involve large-scale ediscovery,” Shargel said. “A lot of our matters now involve terabytes of data and millions of records, and that's been exacerbated, particularly over the past five years, by the presence of mobile data in almost every case.”
"Thanks to Everlaw, we no longer have to ask them for more time. Our clients are actually impressed when we have the data ready on the same day we received it.”
Quickly ingesting and reviewing that data has become a key part of Bracewell’s ediscovery strategy. With Everlaw, the firm found a reliable tool they could leverage to handle different data types and ensure an efficient review process.
“Everlaw has made reviewing mobile data extremely easy,” Shargel said. “We can ingest data at speeds that dwarf what we used to be able to do with other platforms. It allows us to take that data, and use Everlaw's tools to very quickly zero in on what’s most relevant.”
Transforming Client Expectations
Whether it’s searching through complex data types for details that will break open the case, or just getting it loaded onto an ediscovery platform, time is often of the essence for legal professionals. Everlaw’s speed is something Shargel and his team view as a difference-maker.
“We can take a phone image, for example, upload it to Everlaw extremely quickly, and within a day we can have reviewers with hands on the documents finding the most relevant data in a matter,” Shargel said. “One of the things we find most helpful is the speed at which we can go from data delivery to eyes on the data, finding the proverbial needle in a haystack very quickly.”
That sort of momentum is something that can mark the difference between meeting the client’s expectations or asking them for more time, and between coming in under budget or adding on extra fees.
“If it takes two or three days to load data onto a platform, that means I'm going to lose parts of our review team to other matters, because that’s too long for them to be sitting idle,” Shargel said. “Or even worse, I'm not going to meet the client's expectations, because they’re eager to know what's in the documents. Thanks to Everlaw, we no longer have to ask them for more time. Our clients are actually impressed when we have the data ready on the same day we received it.”
What’s more, Shargel and his team have confidence that this speed and reduced time to insights will scale no matter the size of the case or the amount of data involved.
“We can use Everlaw for a matter that has one hundred documents, or for matters that have five million documents,” Shargel said. “It's adaptable to any of the matters that we work on as a firm.”
Scaling Through Support
Of course, no one can single handedly scale Everlaw throughout their firm, or know the answer to every question that comes across their desk. That’s why Everlaw’s customer support is a crucial part of Bracewell’s adoption of the platform, and continues to play an important role in the firm’s use. Every Everlaw customer is able to leverage full access to that support at no additional cost.
“The Everlaw support team has been invaluable to me and to the lawyers who work on Everlaw matters,” Shargel said. “Whenever there are times I'm not quite sure how to do something, I can simply pick up the phone and call a live person who immediately helps me out. Even if I send an email, I get a response very quickly. The support has been invaluable.”
“What I'm seeing with Everlaw and its AI capabilities is amazing. At Everlaw Summit this past year, AJ’s keynote demonstrated the potential capabilities with live demos of Everlaw’s AI tools. I can envision ways that those tools are going to help our lawyers going forward."
Along with comprehensive customer support, there’s also training available for customers who are looking to increase adoption at their firm or learn new features.
“We do regular training sessions for existing users, but we also train our new associates on Everlaw when they join the firm,” Shargel said. “Since they're going to become the next generation of users, having that training sets the tone for the support they're able to obtain as they work on matters.”
Everlaw users can even provide direct feedback on the platform, in an effort to influence new features and improvements. This is something Bracewell has taken full advantage of.
“Everlaw is open to our feedback on the product,” Shargel said. “We can see on the roadmap that our insights and ideas are taken seriously, and that our suggestions aren’t falling on deaf ears.”
Innovating Toward the Future
As data continues to proliferate and cases grow more complex, legal professionals will have to evolve. And in the modern age, that means at least starting the conversation around generative AI.
Generative AI’s ability to increase the speed and decrease the complexity of the document review process, uncover new insights faster, and deliver more impactful results for clients means legal teams have to start taking advantage of the benefits it brings to the table.
“I’m excited about AI,” Shargel said. “What I'm seeing with Everlaw and its AI capabilities is amazing. At Everlaw Summit this past year, AJ’s keynote demonstrated the potential capabilities with live demos of Everlaw’s AI tools. I can envision ways that those tools are going to help our lawyers going forward. I think it's going to change the way that we review and analyze documents.”
For a firm like Bracewell that prides themselves on being ahead of the curve, having a reliable partner with a trusted platform is the first step towards preparing for the future.
“I'm not sure there will ever be a way to overcome the growing amounts of data in ediscovery,” Shargel said. “But I know we can rely on Everlaw to help us address it.”
