Celebrate the Everlaw Summit ‘25 Award Winners

Everlaw Summit ‘25 delivered three days of thought-provoking panels, in-depth product workshops, meaningful networking, and more.

From Jad Abumrad’s keynote on how to have better conversations to the many breakout sessions on topics like generative AI, litigation, and the future of ediscovery, there was no shortage of discussion around how legal professionals can transform their work.

In an effort to recognize some of the individuals and organizations that are working to create change in the industry, the Everlaw Summit Awards were held across two days on the Summit mainstage.

After receiving many nominations in the lead up to Summit, the winners were selected by our esteemed panel of judges, made up of:

• Jeff Comeau, Senior Director, Litigation and Antitrust, Align Technology

• Gloria Lee, Chief Legal Officer, Everlaw

• Stephanie Wilkins, Director of Content, LegalTechnology Hub

• Sheneika Hurley, Senior Solutions Architect, Everlaw

• Jessica Wan, Partner, Ferguson Case Orr Paterson

We want to congratulate all our Everlaw Summit Awards finalists and our winners this year!

Corporate Breakthrough of the Year

For corporate legal departments transforming their approach to litigation and investigations in-house.

Winner: HP, represented by Thane Vallette, Associate General Counsel

HP has not only standardized on Everlaw for their core ediscovery work, but has also pushed its use far beyond traditional boundaries. Thane and his team are currently piloting Everlaw to tackle the challenge of data overload, estimating the potential to eliminate 25-30% of their stored, redundant, or obsolete data through the use of the platform.

On the generative AI front, HP utilized Everlaw^AI Assistant to achieve massive efficiencies, such as rapidly pinpointing assignment provisions during due diligence and reducing a 500-hour orphaned data extraction project to approximately 12 hours.

Thane has also led HP’s involvement in the Everlaw^AI Deep Dive beta program, using it to mine millions of documents in their archive.

Leadership in Generative AI

For leaders in ediscovery that are using technology in innovative ways.

Winner: James Bekier, Director of Litigation Services, BakerHostetler

James’s role at Am Law 200 firm BakerHostetler means he’s responsible for the implementation of technology across the organization.

James has also been proactively leveraging generative AI to fundamentally rethink workflows and create real-world results. His achievements to date include using generative AI for translating and summarizing foreign-language video evidence, identifying defamatory content for complaints, and integrating Storybuilder to streamline litigation narrative building.

By advocating for smart vendor partnerships and investing in technology, James is ensuring that BakerHostetler transitions to a modern, profitable litigation stack with AI at the forefront.

Impact Agent of the Year

For paralegals and litigation support professionals making measurable impacts in their organizations.

Winner: Eric Beard, Director of Litigation Support, Barnes & Thornburg

Over the last 4 years, Eric has fundamentally reshaped Barnes & Thornburg’s Ediscovery Services solution and increased ROI each year.

One of his biggest achievements has been working on reshaping the direction and services of the internal ediscovery team's support function at the firm. He transformed what was once a loosely structured capability into a recognized and revenue-generating business unit, complete with a small but organized team and an operational model that has been revised and rebuilt over time.

As a deeply engaged innovator within his firm, Eric has driven the adoption of scalable, tech-forward practices that empower attorneys and reduce client costs. He leads a high-performing five-person team that provides white glove service across the EDRM spectrum, and has successfully gotten buy-in from attorneys, including senior partners, to review documents directly in Everlaw.

Excellence in Legal Mentorship

For those demonstrating a commitment to developing, empowering, and mentoring the next generation of legal professionals.

Winner: Randy Abraham, Deloitte Contractor, Department of Justice/EOUSA

Randy has built a mentorship culture at the DOJ that’s grounded in on-demand self-service, empowerment, and excellence for thousands of federal legal professionals.

His most remarkable achievement this year has been his unwavering dedication to mentoring and supporting thousands of users through his customer’s Everlaw helpdesk, transforming it into a mentorship hub. His team handles a significant number of enablement and training requests daily, ensuring users receive not just answers, but contextual guidance and best-practice insights that foster professional growth. This level of support is vital in an environment handling high-stakes matters for dozens of litigation and investigative branch offices.

Beyond the helpdesk, Randy delivers at least one custom training session almost every day, leads multiple ad hoc coaching sessions monthly, and is the driving force behind his 10-part Everlaw webinar series, which draws hundreds of attendees per session. His commitment to knowledge-sharing and patient instruction—also serving as faculty at numerous onsite training events—has had a cascading impact, making him a significant reason why cloud ediscovery has been adopted so successfully by the U.S. federal government writ large.

Rising Star in Ediscovery

For professionals with seven years or less of legal experience whose early accomplishments distinguish them as future leaders in the profession.

Winner: Mared Jones, Operations and Project Manager, XBundle

Mared has demonstrated exceptional technical expertise and rapid career progression since joining XBundle in late 2020.

Her most significant achievement this year has been her pioneering work in championing the use of generative AI through a collaboration with London law firms like Macfarlanes. She devised a bespoke and entirely novel workflow to deploy Everlaw^AI Assistant on the Everlaw platform—a method so innovative it had not even been conceived by the Everlaw team itself. This deep technical knowledge and ability to innovate were validated when initial comparisons showed Everlaw, under her guidance, providing more useful and accurate outcomes than a competing AI model when tested on the same data.

Mared’s work for major clients like Macfarlanes has involved handling massive data sets (like the 4.5 million documents in Project Lignite), providing end to end workflow support for complex litigation (like Goyal v. BGF Investment Management), and leading urgent forensic data collections. Furthermore, she actively mentors the next generation through extensive training events for Macfarlanes trainees and co-spoke at the Future Lawyers conference on the use of AI in ediscovery, cementing her status as a true rising leader.

Everlaw for Good Award

For leaders in nonprofit and pro-bono legal services helping to level the playing field for justice by supporting low income populations, civil liberties, and human, civil, public, and environmental rights.

Winner: Legal Aid Society

The Legal Aid Society is the oldest and largest public interest law firm in New York City.

Founded in 1876, the Legal Aid Society is the oldest and largest public interest law firm in New York City, and has been supporting low-income New Yorkers in more than 300,000 legal matters for nearly 150 years. They’ve expanded their commitment to modern legal technology in recent years in an effort to support multiple databases across their civil and criminal practices.

A powerful example of their high-impact work is their collaboration with the Housing Rights Initiative on a sweeping multi-plaintiff housing discrimination lawsuit. Facing a significant ediscovery challenge involving thousands of documents and fast-moving court deadlines, the Legal Aid Society utilized Everlaw's modern ediscovery platform to secure settlements with nearly 50 defendants, ensuring long-term housing stability and increasing access to affordable housing for almost 100,000 New York City households. The settlements require companies to implement critical changes, such as reserving units for voucher holders, demonstrating the life-changing impact of their dedication to civil rights.

People’s Choice Award

For a standout Everlaw Summit presenter, selected on-site by Summit attendees.

Winner: Eric Kolbeck, Assistant Attorney General, Minnesota Attorney General's Office

Eric serves as the liaison between the legal and technology teams at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. He uses his specialized knowledge and experience to create technology-based solutions for complex problems. He helps develop case strategy related to the collection, review, and production of information. In the courtroom, he helps his colleagues communicate their theory of the case through exhibits and other visuals.

Eric and his team at the Minnesota Attorney General's Office have successfully leveraged legal technology to establish effective processes for some of the most critical cases of the past decade. While the work of litigation support teams within Attorney General's Offices is often unseen, their impact on the justice system is substantial and directly affects our citizenry on a daily basis.

Congratulations to all Everlaw Summit Award winners for their inspiring contributions to the industry! We’re thrilled to highlight and honor the achievements of individuals and organizations who are pioneering change and innovation in the legal and ediscovery space.