Am Law 200 Law Firm Helps Security Startup Withstand Tech Giant
Their Story
As one of the largest litigation firms in Florida, Cole, Scott & Kissane, an AmLaw 200 Law Firm, is used to taking on challenging opponents—and winning. With 13 offices and over 500 attorneys throughout the Sunshine State, Cole, Scott, & Kissane (CSK) prides itself on providing the highest quality legal services, pairing “the benefit of ever-changing technology with hard work and the willingness to go the extra mile.”
Nowhere was this better illustrated than in CSK’s recent representation of a small tech startup facing down one of the largest corporations in the world.
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With Everlaw as their platform of choice, CSK was able to combine speed and collaboration with granular user controls to operate a scalable, efficient discovery process and, ultimately, to achieve a successful resolution for their client in this David v. Goliath battle.
Their Challenge: Finding a Fast, Collaborative Approach to Ediscovery in a David v. Goliath Battle
When CSK’s client, Corellium, approached the firm, the small startup had come up against the most profitable company in the world, Apple. During the litigation that followed, CSK needed a tool that would allow them to collaborate effectively, seamlessly, and quickly across a sizable review of incredibly sensitive documentation.
Corellium, founded in Florida in 2017, developed a product called the Corellium Security Product, or “CORSEC,” that enables researchers to study in detail the operating system software embedded in mobile devices. For financial institutions, government agencies, and security researchers tasked with uncovering security vulnerabilities quickly and easily, such software-only versions of mobile operating systems are invaluable.
As a result, Apple attempted to purchase Corellium and its technology, but after a lengthy process, the negotiations fell through. A year later, the tech giant sued. Corellium, facing one of the world’s largest, most well-resourced opponents, turned to CSK to help level the playing field.
Given the extremely complex nature of the case, CSK needed to:
Scale their ediscovery efforts. This case pitted an up-and-coming startup against a tech giant with unlimited resources. CSK had to ensure that their ediscovery solution would meet the challenge, given that this complicated, high-profile case would lead to huge files and complex types of discovery.
Review mountains of documents. Due to the highly sensitive nature of the data they were handling, CSK had to make it easy to collaborate while maintaining strict controls over what documents were evaluated by whom. Adding to this complexity, review involved hundreds of thousands of technical documents, some of that being solely source code.
Handle complex data types. CSK had to handle forensic discovery, remote data pickup, hardware challenges, and metadata in the most efficient and straightforward manner possible. It was critical for the success of the case to be able to immediately see when a document was created, by whom, and when it was last modified.
Find an ediscovery platform that is easy to use. In the past, CSK had relied on ediscovery software that complicated even routine tasks. For this case, the law firm needed a system that would make it easy to review discovery quickly.
Everlaw was our document management system of choice. Our client is now able to do what they want to do with no restrictions, and that’s a win, especially against a Goliath entity like Apple.
The Everlaw Solution: Enhancing the Impact of CSK’s Efforts
When it came to adopting a new solution, CSK set its sights on Everlaw. The law firm found that Everlaw’s modern ediscovery technology, reproducible workflows, and ease of use enable them to level the playing field for their client. In particular, CSK was able to:
Improve efficiency with project administration. Despite the scope of the Apple v. Corellium case, the CSK team worked through discovery quickly and efficiently and concluded the process in only 20 months. CSK used Everlaw to easily create new projects and load their documents to the platform with a self-service uploader, a fast ingestion processing engine, and project templates. These organizational features automate previously manual and time-consuming tasks that would otherwise bog down users trying to get their ediscovery up and running.
Improve collaboration with binders. A large number of the hundreds of thousands of technical documents that CSK had to review were pure source code. Additionally, knowing when documents were produced and having the ability to separate them for deposition and trial prep was critical for the law firm. CSK leveraged binders to collect documents, group them together, and easily share selected documents with the proper reviewers via the Everlaw platform, making the review process both more efficient and more secure.
Maintain control with granular permissions. The document review for this case required collaboration on highly sensitive, highly technical documents. CSK’s project administrators leveraged Everlaw’s granular approach to project permissions to have complete control over who had access to what information. The firm gave users access to only the things they needed without unnecessary complexity, allowed for smooth in-platform collaboration, and kept sensitive work product from parties who should not have access to it.
Having Everlaw just made our lives easier—enabling us to process documents faster is a huge plus. I’d rather spend two hours going through documents versus spending five hours trying to figure out how to use the software.
Get the complete picture with privilege logs. CSK needed the ability to spot, identify, and prepare for any potential challenges to their process. With Everlaw, CSK was able to defend its productions against challenges and easily explain all the producing details with automated privilege logs.
Results: A Favorable Judgment and Happy Client
Finding the right ediscovery solution was a critical decision made by CSK as they litigated the case. As the case progressed, CSK prevailed on a summary judgment ruling on three of the four claims brought by Apple. The last claim was resolved between the parties. The end result was incredibly important for Corellium. As a small startup, litigation can be a huge liability that can impede their ability to continue operating.
CSK has closed 6,095 files in the last 12 months, with an average matter life cycle of 100 days.
Even after the case, CSK continues to leverage Everlaw to great effect.In the last 12 months alone, CSK closed 6,095 files with an average case lifecycle of just 100 days. Additionally, CSK is exploring how they can further utilize Everlaw’s full suite of features and functionality (including Storybuilder, Everlaw’s narrative building toolkit) to move seamlessly between review and post-review workflows to prepare for CSK’s bread and butter: complex litigation.