As Relativity gears up for RelativityFest, the Coachella of people who love chain-of-custody logs, the company also celebrates an anniversary for one of its most important programs. Turning five this year, Relativity’s Justice for Change initiative brings the company’s tools to a wide variety of social justice causes, allowing non-profits struggling against wrongful convictions or pushing for poor children’s access to health care the same tools that Fortune 100 companies tap into.
It’s easy to get cynical about corporate justice projects these days. Many a social justice project sprung from the George Floyd murder that withered under the heat lamp of 2025. Even law firms, who have professional obligations to provide public service work, have shrunk from the task, fleeing critical pro bono matters to stay off the Trump administration’s radar. Meanwhile, Relativity has held firm with its commitment and even expanded the scope to back causes across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the EMEA region.
Over the last five years, Justice for Change has helped out 90-plus organizations, supported over 250 matters, and processed some 16.2 million documents. “Relativity tools and training saved us precious time — time that ultimately amounted to fewer days in prison and more time as a free man for our innocent client,” said Barry Scheck, Co-Founder and Special Counsel at the Innocence Project. And as valuable as Relativity’s tools are to each individual matter, some of its most impactful accomplishments come from being able to see a bigger picture across matters that human lawyers could never capture. In 2022, the Georgia Innocence Project explained that using Relativity’s tools allowed the organization to analyze the records from thousands of cases and identify bad actors cropping up across the data — essentially flagging jurisdictions running a pre-crime unit straight out of Minority Report, except with fewer pre-cogs and more “just arresting minorities.”
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“Access to Relativity was a game changer that enabled the plaintiffs to marshal evidence for expert depositions, prepare for summary judgment, and, ultimately, more effectively monitor the settlement reached after vigorous litigation,” said Geron Gadd, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program. “The Justice for Change program is critical in opening the courthouse doors to low-income litigants with disabilities who, without access to the technological tools of modern litigation, would be substantially disadvantaged in their pursuit of justice.”
In addition to RelativityOne access for document review, Justice for Change started helping non-profit legal organizations embark on a digital revolution, aiding in the transition from paper-based files to digital workflows. With support from e-discovery and litigation support service provider Page One, the program helped participants digitize decades’ worth of physical case files. One participant in the project reported saving approximately $50,000 a year in off-site storage costs by moving to digital. That’s money that can go directly back to helping people instead of babysitting a basement full of banker’s boxes.
“The past five years have laid a strong foundation for what’s possible when technology and purpose align, but we know that substantial change requires continued action from a committed community,” said Johnathan Hill, Global Program Manager for Social Impact and Community Engagement Lead at Relativity. “Many organizations working on the front lines of justice continue to face barriers, whether it’s limited funding, outdated systems or a lack of access to scalable technology. Justice for Change has shown that with the right team, strategic vision and a willingness to listen and adapt, commercial-grade tools can be used to serve the public good in powerful ways.”
As CEO Phil Saunders put it, Relativity saw early that “AI and advanced legal tech solutions could, and should, be used for good.” After half a decade, the receipts are undeniable: exonerations, successful disability rights litigation, and civil rights victories all over the place. All because the company took the tools designed for bet-the-company battles and turned them toward people who need legal services the most.
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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.