Winston’s Information Services Department Honored at the 2010 LTN Awards

Winston & Strawn's Information Services Department was honored for the "Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Pro Bono Project" at the 2010 LTN Awards, honoring innovation in law firms and legal departments. The award was presented at the LegalTech conference held in New York on February 1.

The firm and the IS group were recognized on behalf of their efforts launching the Innocence Record.org in collaboration with the Innocence Project. The Innocence Record is the first on-line, searchable database of court records and other data of the cases of those who have been wrongfully convicted and later exonerated through DNA evidence. 

For the last six years, attorneys, summer associates, paralegals, researchers and staff at Winston & Strawn LLP and the Innocence Project have devoted thousands of hours scouring the country for every available court record relating to cases in which wrongfully convicted persons were later exonerated by DNA evidence. These documents were then reviewed and abstracted by Winston & Strawn, while the records themselves were digitally scanned and stored electronically in a secure, searchable format. Through The Innocence Record, for the first time, these case abstracts and records can now be accessed and searched by legal scholars and others throughout the world in a variety of ways, including by name, date, jurisdiction, or even by individual words within the records themselves. In addition, the factual abstracts from each of these cases can now be compared and contrasted, allowing for sophisticated analyses of patterns and similarities that will provide insight into systemic flaws that cause these injustices to occur. Equally important, these historic records, many of which were no longer being stored by the courts, now have a repository that will ensure they endure for future generations.

The Innocence Record is a unique pro bono project because it is at its core a technology tool. The project was only made possible by the committed leadership and extensive involvement of Winston's IS staff, who designed and implemented the website and the underlying database repository, and worked tirelessly on the project since its inception in 2004.  

This project has been ongoing since 2004 and the website was launched in the summer of 2010. As with any web-based project, the site continues to evolve and adapt to the needs of users, and particularly the community of reform and innocence advocates.

Greg McConnell, Winston's pro bono counsel, discussed the Innocence Project with the editor-in-chief of Law Technology News at LegalTech New York. Mr. McConnell cited the "phenomenal effort" Winston's team put forth in order to complete this unique project.