News
Goldberg Kohn Principal David Morrison and Associate P.J. Sauerteig are quoted in "Pro Bono Pioneers: The Firms Championing Legal Justice and the Technology That Powers It," an October 24, 2023, blog posted by legal vendor Relativity.
Goldberg Kohn is one of two law firms with pro bono cases in Relativity's Justice for Change program, and in honor of October being "pro bono month," our attorneys spoke with Relativity's Justice for Change lead, Johnathan Hill, about our pro bono program, the heart behind the labor, and the demand for technology partnerships.
The Commitment to Pro Bono
Among the participating firms, reports the blog, there is a mutual agreement that pro bono work starts with an intentional commitment, from the firm and from each individual—a commitment to go from witnessing injustice, to doing something about it.
David Morrison is quoted as saying that motivation is a part of his job title, when it comes down to it. “Everyone can look back to why they started thinking about becoming a lawyer: to make change,” he said. “Goldberg Kohn is [making change].”
Upon joining Goldberg Kohn, P.J. Sauerteig says he never felt like pro bono was just an item on a checklist. "It was never, I have to do my 10 hours….Goldberg Kohn encourages attorneys to have their pro bono work be a regular part of their caseload on both big and small levels. Mixing individual matters with larger systemic matters is a combination that allows for meaningful, profound impact within and outside of the firm."
Matters That Matter: The Impact of Pro Bono
As reported in the blog post, Goldberg Kohn used RelativityOne for a pro bono case our firm is handling on behalf of residents in East Chicago, Indiana, whose property is being contaminated by neighboring manufacturers.
P.J. expressed that with "larger-stakes litigations, you sometimes have 20,000-30,000 documents being dumped on you." In this case, RelativityOne helped facilitate much more than just the normal servicing of the documents. “I’ve learned a lot through Relativity and the folks involved in the case about best practices, and what would be your biggest bang for the buck in terms of wading through an enormous amount of information," said P.J. "That’s been really helpful to us.”
Data volume and complexities are going beyond the capacity Goldberg Kohn's pro bono team has internally to handle these cases. David expressed his interest in Artificial Intelligence and how it might help in this respect.
“I think all attorneys and firms are struggling with this," said David. It’s a tidal wave. How can I harness it? What are the ways it’ll help me do a better job of that?”
The author of the blog writes that "as we look to the future of pro bono, it’s becoming more and more clear that legal companies and e-discovery software need to come together to share what they have—and gain what they don’t."
