As Relativity gears up for RelativityFest, the Coachella of people that love chain-of-custody logs, the corporate additionally celebrates an anniversary for certainly one of its most essential applications. Turning 5 this 12 months, Relativity’s Justice for Change initiative brings the corporate’s instruments to all kinds of social justice causes, permitting non-profits struggling towards wrongful convictions or pushing for poor kids’s entry to well being care the identical instruments that Fortune 100 firms faucet into.
It’s straightforward to get cynical about company justice initiatives nowadays. Many a social justice mission sprung from the George Floyd homicide that withered underneath the warmth lamp of 2025. Even regulation companies, who’ve skilled obligations to supply public service work, have shrunk from the duty, fleeing important professional bono issues to remain off the Trump administration’s radar. In the meantime, Relativity has held agency with its dedication and even expanded the scope to again causes throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the EMEA area.
During the last 5 years, Justice for Change has helped out 90-plus organizations, supported over 250 issues, and processed some 16.2 million paperwork. “Relativity instruments and coaching saved us valuable time — time that finally amounted to fewer days in jail and extra time as a free man for our harmless consumer,” mentioned Barry Scheck, Co-Founder and Particular Counsel on the Innocence Venture. And as invaluable as Relativity’s instruments are to every particular person matter, a few of its most impactful accomplishments come from with the ability to see a much bigger image throughout issues that human attorneys may by no means seize. In 2022, the Georgia Innocence Venture defined that utilizing Relativity’s instruments allowed the group to research the information from hundreds of circumstances and establish unhealthy actors cropping up throughout the information — primarily flagging jurisdictions working a pre-crime unit straight out of Minority Report, besides with fewer pre-cogs and extra “simply arresting minorities.”
“Entry to Relativity was a recreation changer that enabled the plaintiffs to marshal proof for professional depositions, put together for abstract judgment, and, finally, extra successfully monitor the settlement reached after vigorous litigation,” mentioned Geron Gadd, Senior Legal professional on the Nationwide Well being Legislation Program. “The Justice for Change program is important in opening the courthouse doorways to low-income litigants with disabilities who, with out entry to the technological instruments of contemporary litigation, can be considerably deprived of their pursuit of justice.”
Along with RelativityOne entry for doc overview, Justice for Change began serving to non-profit authorized organizations embark on a digital revolution, aiding within the transition from paper-based recordsdata to digital workflows. With help from e-discovery and litigation help service supplier Web page One, this system helped members digitize a long time’ price of bodily case recordsdata. One participant within the mission reported saving roughly $50,000 a 12 months in off-site storage prices by transferring to digital. That’s cash that may go instantly again to serving to folks as an alternative of babysitting a basement stuffed with banker’s packing containers.
“The previous 5 years have laid a robust basis for what’s attainable when expertise and objective align, however we all know that substantial change requires continued motion from a dedicated group,” mentioned Johnathan Hill, International Program Supervisor for Social Influence and Neighborhood Engagement Lead at Relativity. “Many organizations engaged on the entrance strains of justice proceed to face obstacles, whether or not it’s restricted funding, outdated techniques or an absence of entry to scalable expertise. Justice for Change has proven that with the suitable crew, strategic imaginative and prescient and a willingness to hear and adapt, commercial-grade instruments can be utilized to serve the general public good in highly effective methods.”
As CEO Phil Saunders put it, Relativity noticed early that “AI and superior authorized tech options may, and may, be used for good.” After half a decade, the receipts are plain: exonerations, profitable incapacity rights litigation, and civil rights victories in all places. All as a result of the corporate took the instruments designed for bet-the-company battles and turned them towards individuals who want authorized companies essentially the most.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Legislation and co-host of Considering Like A Lawyer. Be at liberty to e mail any suggestions, questions, or feedback. Observe him on Twitter or Bluesky for those who’re all in favour of regulation, politics, and a wholesome dose of school sports activities information. Joe additionally serves as a Managing Director at RPN Govt Search.
