Winston & Strawn Receives Prestigious Technology Innovation Award

CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Winston & Strawn LLP received this week the 2010 "Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Pro Bono Project" award from Law Technology News (LTN), which honors extraordinary innovation by law firms and legal departments in representing the poor and legal aid societies.

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The firm was recognized for its efforts in developing the Innocence Record.org.  Developed in conjunction with the Innocence Project and launched in September 2010, the Innocence Record is the first searchable online database of the court records and other data of cases involving those who have been wrongfully convicted and later exonerated through DNA evidence.  Unique among the firm's pro bono efforts, the Innocence Record is at its core a technology tool. 

Over the years, the Innocence Project amassed a large collection of records from the cases of those exonerated through DNA evidence.  Building on that unique repository for the last six years, numerous attorneys, summer associates, paralegals, researchers and staff at Winston & Strawn and the Innocence Project devoted thousands of hours scouring the country for every available court record relating to cases where wrongfully convicted defendants were later exonerated through the use of DNA evidence.  These files were then carefully summarized and abstracted by Winston & Strawn, while the records themselves were digitally scanned and stored electronically in a secure, searchable format. 

Winston & Strawn partner David Koropp, who has overseen the development of this project since its inception explains that:  "The ultimate objective of the Innocence Record is to preserve these critically important documents and create a means for making them accessible to those academics, legislators, law enforcement agencies, and members of the general public interested in understanding why wrongful convictions take place and in discovering ways to prevent them from occurring in the future."

"The judges found in this year's entries a new energy, despite the relatively gloomy recent past in the legal profession.  Our selections represent longevity and creativity, new trends in technology, and sheer hard work," said David Whelan, one of the LTN Award judges.

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international commercial law firm with 14 offices in North America, Asia and Europe.  More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.

SOURCE Winston & Strawn LLP