Professor Andrew M. Pardieck leads SIU Simmons Law School’s eDiscovery pro bono project. (Photo by Russell Bailey)
March 26, 2025
SIU law students use eDiscovery tools to seek justice
CARBONDALE, Ill. — A program at Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School is teaching students how to navigate the explosion of digital information that has transformed the practice of law.
In 2021, SIU Law established an electronic discovery or “eDiscovery” pro bono program to aid nonprofit legal aid organizations with the analysis of electronically stored information. Since then, SIU students have dedicated most of their time to combing case files from the Georgia Innocence Project.
The current project involves SIU students, along with students from the Maurice A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra University, using eDiscovery software to analyze electronically stored information from files in five cases where the courts exonerated defendants.
“The goal is to determine whether there are patterns in the data relevant for consideration either by the Georgia Innocence Project and its attorneys or by conviction integrity units in prosecutor’s offices to prevent or remedy wrongful convictions,” said Andrew M. Pardieck, the current endowed SIU Law Alumni Professor and director of SIU’s eDiscovery pro bono project.
The analysis includes students examining both prosecution and court records from these cases to determine if there are “red flags,” patterns in the evidence or procedural issues that warrant further review. “Is there some sort of error or bias that crept into the litigation process that resulted in the wrong conclusion as to who actually committed the crime?” Pardieck emphasizes that exoneration means not only that one person has been wrongly convicted but that the person who is truly guilty has not faced justice.
“To the extent that we can use some of these tools to pull out information that might inform both litigation and advocacy efforts going forward, we believe that is important,” he said.
Pardieck added that Relativity, a global legal technology company headquartered in Chicago, provides students access to its eDiscovery software free of charge as part of its Academic Partner and Justice for Change programs.
A leader in eDiscovery
While many law schools now teach eDiscovery, Pardieck, who came to SIU in 2012 and began teaching an eDiscovery course the next year, said that to his knowledge, SIU was one of the first to teach a standalone eDiscovery course and the first to offer an eDiscovery pro bono clinic that partners with a legal service provider and works with nonprofits.
At the time, for much of the legal profession, “eDiscovery was like the wild, wild west,” he said. “People didn’t know how to do it. There were not established workflows. There wasn’t good technology for collecting electronically stored information and getting that into evidence. People were all over the map, and the rules were all over the map.”
There was also an “enormous divide” between well-off litigants who could hire technologists and had the resources to gather needed information and those with limited resources, the small and medium-sized law firms involved in family law, personal injury and small business cases. The issue is still acute for public defenders and nonprofits, Pardieck said.
In 2012, the American Bar Association amended its Model Rules of Professional Conduct to require attorneys to be technically competent when representing clients. That made SIU’s pro bono eDiscovery program a “win-win,” he said. “We were able to develop this pro bono program from which students could gain valuable experience and technical competency, and at the same time, we would be able to provide a service to nonprofits that don’t have the resources to do eDiscovery.”
Important legal lessons
Stacy Frank, a second-year law student from O’Fallon, Missouri, completed 40 pro bono hours on the project during the spring 2024 semester and is now Pardieck’s research assistant for the project. She earned her bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice and social work from St. Louis University.
Frank said her work with Georgia Innocence Project “has been a profound reminder of the immense responsibility legal professionals bear.” It has also taught valuable lessons about practical applications of the law in addition to approaching her studies with a “practical, client-focused perspective.”
“It has been a constant reminder that legal work is about more than theory,” she said. “It's about serving others and upholding the integrity of the system.
“Clients place their trust in us to navigate a complex system where even small errors can lead to devastating consequences. This experience has deepened my conviction that being a lawyer is not just about earning a good living, but about passionately advocating for underrepresented individuals and ensuring accountability at every level of the legal system, from evidence handling to scene security.”
Frank said she always envisioned working in juvenile justice, but her experience in eDiscovery, particularly with document reviews for mass torts and data breaches, has “sparked an interest in potentially exploring legal technology further.”
A ‘powerful catalyst for change’
The SIU Law Alumni Professorship was established by an endowed gift and is awarded to an SIU Simmons School of Law professor demonstrating a high level of accomplishment. Pardieck was nominated by the law school’s faculty and endorsed by its full professors.
Pardieck’s eDiscovery pro bono project “is not just an academic exercise, but a powerful catalyst for change,” said Angela Upchurch, the law school’s acting dean.
“By helping to uncover patterns in wrongful convictions, students are not only honing their technical skills but also contributing to a larger movement for justice reform,” Upchurch said. “The collaboration with the Georgia Innocence Project and leading industry partners underscores our commitment to providing meaningful, real-world experiences that make a tangible difference in the legal community.
“Professor Pardieck’s eDiscovery pro bono project exemplifies exceptional work that significantly benefits the legal community. By supporting Professor Pardieck and his graduate assistants in this endeavor, we honor the donors’ intentions and advance the mission of SIU Simmons Law School.”