Harlan Hillier DiGiacco LLP Transforms Case Management and Unlocks Key Metadata Insights with Everlaw
In employment law, the most critical evidence often isn't what’s said, but the digital trail that’s left behind. For the team at Harlan Hillier DiGiacco LLP, representing employees in high-stakes litigation means going up against well-resourced organizations where every timestamp and version history matters.
Co-founded by Francis “Frankie” DiGiacco and his partners Jordon Harlan and Andrew Hillier, the firm has grown to include two associates, a paralegal, and support staff. With a contingency fee model, the firm is committed to delivering results while carefully managing costs and resources.
DiGiacco joined the firm after a career as a federal prosecutor and big law associate. His background includes extensive work in securities class action litigation, where he honed his skills in managing large-scale document reviews and navigating complex ediscovery processes. This expertise has shaped the firm’s approach to leveraging technology to improve efficiency and reduce repetitive tasks, ensuring a meticulous and streamlined legal process for their clients.
Choosing an Affordable and Efficient Ediscovery Solution
As part of creating a more streamlined process, Harlan Hillier DiGiacco needed an ediscovery solution that balanced robust functionality with cost efficiency.
DiGiacco was familiar with the high costs of platforms like Relativity from his big law experience, and recognized that such expenses were unsustainable for the firm’s financial model.
“I knew about Relativity from years ago, and it was very expensive and didn’t make sense from a cost perspective,” DiGiacco explained. But without a document review platform, the firm would be forced to rely on document productions consisting of only PDFs without any of the useful evidence that metadata can provide. To address this issue, the firm sought a more scalable option without the burden of excessive overhead.
DiGiacco discovered Everlaw through online research and was drawn to its intuitive interface and innovative features like Storybuilder, which integrates timelines and documents seamlessly. After exploring its capabilities and pricing, he decided it might be a good fit.
“Once I understood the cost efficiency of Everlaw and how much it offered, I couldn’t see how we wouldn’t want to use it,” he said. The platform’s pricing structure allowed the firm to allocate costs proportionally to cases, ensuring financial flexibility while enhancing their document review and case preparation processes.
Challenges of Managing Metadata and ESI
Managing metadata and electronically stored information (ESI) is another significant cost and resource allocation burden for firms during the trial preparation process, particularly in employment law cases, which is one of the primary practice areas for Harlan Hillier DiGiacco.
“Metadata is a trove of information that is, I think, more valuable than the documents at times,” DiGiacco said. “I don't know how people build cases without metadata and ESI.”
Due to inefficient ediscovery tools, the firm was often forced into time-consuming practices like printing emails to PDFs and manually Bates stamping them. This approach created redundancies and made it difficult to effectively collaborate and locate critical information.
Everlaw’s metadata processing and review capabilities are particularly evident in cases involving extensive email files, where the platform enables Harlan Hillier DiGiacco to efficiently organize and segregate data. For instance, in a recent case, they tackled a client’s inbox containing approximately 13,000 emails. Without Everlaw, managing this volume would have been impossible, requiring an unwieldy process of printing emails to PDF.
“Having the metadata in Everlaw and being able to assign notes to things and copy things over has been a game changer for us,” DiGiacco said. “The process is so much more fluid in that it doesn't require wasting time redoing the order every time we add something new. Having it all sitting in Everlaw is a much better system that allows us to be more efficient.”
By centralizing and streamlining metadata management, Everlaw empowered the firm to extract crucial evidence while maintaining accuracy and saving time.
Streamlining Workflows with Everlaw
Harlan Hillier DiGiacco has significantly improved its workflows by integrating Everlaw into its case management process.
They’ve been able to redefine their standard operating procedures, uploading documents earlier in the case lifecycle to streamline both the investigation and discovery phases. This proactive approach ensures all relevant materials are centralized and easily accessible, eliminating the risk of missing critical documents during production.
"Everlaw makes our process far more fluid and eliminates the inefficient in-between time," DiGiacco said. The platform’s intuitive design and flexible assignment tools have enabled the team to collaborate effectively, even as they adapt to new workflows.
