Applied Discovery Makes Unilateral Pledge to Uphold ACC Value Challenge

BELLEVUE, Wash., April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Discovery®, a worldwide electronic discovery leader offering multinational collection, early case assessment (ECA), processing, review, and production services for law firms, corporations, and government agencies, today announced that it has unilaterally pledged to uphold the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Value Challenge "Covenant with Counsel" in all matters involving corporate law departments. The Covenant includes 16 factors for aligning cost with value that the company will make to its clients in areas including communication, staffing, technology use, and billing.

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ACC, which has represented the interests of in-house counsel for nearly 30 years, launched the ACC Value Challenge in September 2008 to help foster discussions among clients, law firms, and service providers and to make the focus on value and efficient solutions for managing legal work. The ACC Value Challenge is based on the concept that firms and service providers can greatly increase the value of what they do, improving costs to corporate clients, while maintaining strong profitability.

Applied Discovery has an exclusive affiliation with the ACC as the sole electronic discovery provider in the ACC Alliance Program. "We have always defined 'value' as helping our clients achieve their objectives and always worked hard to align our cost with value," said Jon Resnick, Worldwide Vice President, Field Operations and Marketing at Applied Discovery, Inc. "It has always been our implicit promise, and we are happy to make it explicit by committing to uphold ACC's 'Covenant with Counsel.'"

Specifically, Applied Discovery unilaterally pledges to:

• Learn our clients' business and strategic objectives and apply that understanding to their matters
• Give honest feedback on whether objectives in a matter are realistic and attainable
• Use the most appropriate staffing and tell our client if we don't have the needed expertise
• Designate one professional to serve as our relationship manager whose time will not be billed for this role
• Proactively offer value-based alternative fee structures
• Provide budgets and estimates for specific engagements up front and advise immediately if there may be any material changes
• Understand that we are responsible for our budgets and estimates and that our experience forms a basis for accuracy
• Seek to reduce our costs creatively and constantly, and share those savings with our clients
• Understand that our clients do not seek novel technology or process for their own sake, but to achieve value consistent with their objectives
• Train our staff efficiently and effectively without imposing additional and unwarranted costs
• Never reinvent the wheel: we will look first to past work product and encourage efficiency and continuous improvement
• Discuss any client or issue conflicts with our clients up front
• Use technology to our mutual benefit, including billing
• Meet deadlines and keep in touch
• Commit to pro bono and diversity activities
• Work hard to retain and reward personnel who embrace these concepts, and ensure every employee walks this talk

"The alignment of cost and value transcends the in-house counsel to outside counsel relationship and extends to all law-related services provided to legal departments," said Susan Hackett, ACC's Senior Vice President and General Counsel.  "We are thrilled that Applied Discovery has committed to delivering service on that basis and challenge other service providers to do the same."

For more information, please visit the Applied Discovery ACC Value Challenge webpage.

About Applied Discovery®

Applied Discovery is a worldwide electronic discovery leader offering multinational collection, early case assessment (ECA), processing, review, and production services for law firms, corporations, and government agencies.  Founded in 1998 and acquired by LexisNexis in 2003, Applied Discovery is based in Bellevue, WA, with East Coast headquarters in New York City and regional offices in Washington, DC, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

LexisNexis® is a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions designed specifically for professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting, and academic markets.  LexisNexis originally pioneered online information with its Lexis® and Nexis® services.  A member of Reed Elsevier (NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK) (www.reedelsevier.com), LexisNexis serves customers in more than 100 countries with 15,000 employees worldwide.

About the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is the world's largest organization serving the professional and business interests of attorneys who practice in the legal departments of corporations, associations and other private-sector organizations around the globe.  ACC promotes the common interests of its members, provides resources to help save time, money and effort, contributes to their continuing education and provides a voice on issues of global importance. With more than 26,000 members in over 75 countries, employed by over 10,000 organizations, ACC connects its members to the people and resources necessary for both personal and professional growth. By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel.®  For more information, visit www.acc.com.

CONTACT:
Carrie Bancroft, Director of Marketing
425.467.4813 or e-mail [email protected]

SOURCE Applied Discovery