What do employees want most in a job and in a company? According to Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace report, employees want a job that allows them to do what they do best, have greater work-life balance, as well as the opportunity to work for a company with a great brand reputation. However, the dream job for many is elusive, as the report found that only one-third of the American workforce of over 100 million full-time employees is what Gallup calls “engaged at work”. Furthermore, more than one in three employees (35%) have changed jobs within the past three years, and 91% of employees left their company to do so.
Conversely, DISCO has seen an increase in our workforce in 2017 by 78% with some of the best and brightest talent in the industry seeking us out to join the team. I had the privilege of sitting down with one of our newest team members, Kim Pruitt, to discuss her background and why she chose to work for DISCO.
Q1: Tell us briefly about your background. How did you get into the legal technology industry?
I became involved in legal technology in 2007. Joining a well known regional litigation support provider with headquarters in Seattle, I managed a set of law firms in the San Francisco territory. It was an interesting and exciting time to start working in the space, as we were just beginning to move from the Gen 1 platforms into Gen 2. I consulted with attorneys on new ways to approach document-intensive cases involving analytics and other ECA technologies to help them streamline review and improve their workflows.
Q2: How did you first hear about DISCO?
While I left the industry for a brief period of time, I stayed informed on developments in the space including acquisitions, emerging companies and the latest technologies. I was approached by a colleague about potentially working for DISCO. DISCO really caught my attention as I quickly realized that their technology was different than anything else out there. DISCO was next generation, cloud-based and built by attorneys, for attorneys.
Q3: What were you looking for in a prospective employer?
While the developments in Gen 2 had been ground breaking, I knew legal professionals were still frustrated with the review tools available. The existing technologies were still slow, unintuitive, and the costs were exorbitant. DISCO was one of a few companies with a cloud-based technology that could move faster, but it had an interface that was user friendly, a low predictable pricing model, and technologies that surpassed anything I had seen in the market to date.
Q4: What confirmed your decision to work for DISCO?
I had concluded that DISCO’s technology was levels above the industry standard, but when I actually began meeting the folks who worked at DISCO, I realized it was an opportunity that I could not let pass me by. I visited the DISCO headquarters in Houston and it became evident that this group was relentless in their pursuit for a better ediscovery experience for their clients. Every DISCO employee I met was determined to think outside the box and bring value to DISCO clients through its services. The DISCO passion was infectious and I knew I had to join the team.
One of DISCO’s core values is harboring the inventor’s spirit. This means viewing a problem from the ground up in order to solve it, rather than building on old methods. Sometimes this means creating technologies that we may have thought were impossible, but ultimately solve problems more effectively. The spirit rings through in everything we do and there is an excitement throughout the entire company culture. So far every day seems to bring new developments in our technology, unbeatable comradery, and exciting wins for the team all around.
Q5: What do you see as future challenges for ediscovery professionals?
As new technologies such as DISCO AI are available to our customers, a challenge can be learning and moving toward different ways of approaching a review. We are constantly developing and onboarding new technologies to help our clients gain an edge and make their lives easier. Our professional service team is comprised of highly experienced attorneys and legal technology professionals that can help guide our clients throughout the process of using newly available workflows to help speed their review time, become more efficient and ultimately lower costs for the end clients.
Want to get in touch with Kim? Connect with her on LinkedIn or send her an email!
