Adams and Reese Elevates Its Ediscovery Practice with Everlaw
For some, the world of legal technology can seem intimidating. For others, it’s a career-defining calling.
Jennifer Perkins, a Litigation Support Specialist at Adams and Reese, falls firmly in the latter camp. Although she began her journey as a legal assistant with no prior experience in ediscovery, Perkins has since become a key driver of tech adoption at her firm. She has seen firsthand how the right technology can transform a firm's legal practice, and her enthusiasm is contagious.
Perkins's personal journey mirrors the broader forward-thinking approach of Adams and Reese. From its origins as a small firm in New Orleans in 1951, Adams and Reese has grown into a major player in the legal world, with more than 250 attorneys and advisors across 20 offices in the southern United States and Washington, D.C.
This success is rooted in a commitment to innovation that empowers its attorneys with the tools and technology they need to stay ahead of the curve. That commitment has allowed people like Perkins to act with confidence when using technology.
“Being introduced to Everlaw has been so great,” Perkins said. “I love that I'm able to help others with my expertise to produce a great work product.”
From Overwhelmed to Over-Achiever: The Power of Everlaw's Intuitive Platform
One of Perkins’ first tasks at Adams and Reese was to support a group of attorneys in preparing for a deposition. They needed the data ready by the next day, which meant Perkins needed to quickly get up to speed on the case.
“I was so overwhelmed when I was tasked,” Perkins said. “It was an afternoon, and the attorney asked if I could stay late, not knowing that I’d never worked in Everlaw before. He showed me how to run searches, and that was it.”
Although she worked until the early hours of the morning finishing the job, the experience encouraged Perkins to get more familiar with Everlaw. She could tell even from that first use that it was an intuitive platform, and that it would be an important part of her job going forward.
“After that, I continued working in Everlaw,” Perkins said. “By going through the platform, I saw all the available resources and started training myself. Then eventually, I started working with the support team, who helped me navigate the platform more easily.”
Her knowledge of Everlaw is something she uses to help others at the firm, conducting in-house training for attorneys and staff members to help them get comfortable with the platform. She also helps new associates get up to speed on document review, basic searches, and assignments.
“When I was starting out, I was extremely intimidated by Everlaw,” Perkins said. “But now, I could use it in my sleep.”
A Champion of Innovation, Even Against the Skeptics
In her role as a litigation support specialist, Perkins works on large, complex matters, including construction and maritime cases, which often involve terabytes of data and complicated file types.
“There are a lot of CAD files in the construction matters, and a lot of photographs, which are more difficult because there's really no text in them, so the attorneys don’t know what they're looking for specifically,” Perkins said. “The maritime matters are a lot of reports and email communications, depending on what the matter is.”
Everlaw has been integral to processing and searching through these file types, finding the key information that will make a difference in the case. This provides Perkins and her team with the confidence that they’re on the right track.
“Everlaw helps me feel more confident that things are done accurately,” Perkins said. “I love the predictive coding feature, where people are able to go back and check documents that they've reviewed. I definitely feel that Everlaw helps us to produce a great work product.”
Driving the Future of Ediscovery with Generative AI
Perkins is also a big believer in the power of generative AI, and has been working to get her team on board.
“My experience with using Everlaw’s AI features has been great,” she said. “When we were in the beta program for EverlawAI Assistant, we used it to help build chronologies and summarize large documents where we had a complaint that was many pages, and was very complex.”
Perkins is a big believer in the potential of generative AI to make legal professionals more efficient and do their jobs better.
“Everlaw’s AI tools save a significant amount of time,” she said. “I can't wait for people to adopt them, because it'll help them in their practice. “I feel it’s definitely going to make us better at what we do.”
Paying It Forward: The Importance of Knowledge and Confidence
Perkins' personal success story has fueled her passion for helping others. Being able to use her knowledge of Everlaw to train attorneys and staff members at Adams and Reese has been an exciting development in her career.
“I feel fulfilled being able to help people to succeed in their work,” she said. “I love helping train people to produce a great work product.”
Her journey from a self-proclaimed intimidated user to a confident trainer and leader is a testament to the power of perseverance, a great platform, and the willingness to ask for help.
"I love what I do," Perkins said. "I've found my calling.”
