Innovating in AI: Michael D. Sarlo of HaystackID

HaystackID Blog | July 28, 2022

Editor’s Note: The Innovation Award for Artificial Intelligence by Relativity recognizes an individual who is at the forefront of artificial intelligence adoption. As a specialized eDiscovery services provider that helps corporations and law firms securely find, understand, and learn from data, HaystackID is grateful for the nomination of Michael D. Sarlo in the category of Artificial Intelligence as part of the 2022 Relativity Innovation Awards program. Michael’s extensive expertise in this field is highlighted below. 

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Michael D. Sarlo — An AI Innovator with HaystackID

As Chief Innovation Officer, President of Global Investigations and Cyber Incident Response Services, and a seasoned member of HaystackID’s executive team, Michael has leveraged almost every structured and conceptual analytics toolkit available in the marketplace over the past decade. Often working with tens—or even hundreds—of terabytes of collected data, Michael uses AI-enabled technologies to deliver defensible, predictable, and favorable outcomes. He proactively educates teams on the use of structured analytics and technology-assisted review workflows, positioning them to negotiate for the use of these technologies from the very beginning of a matter.

Michael has developed and implemented market-leading products utilizing AI and has retrofitted AI stacks that are not native to eDiscovery to solve unique challenges we face in our industry. For example, he architected one of the first processing and web-based solutions to enable fluid legal review and production of data extracted from mobile devices and tablets. This solution utilized AI to identify unique actors and thread their messaging activity across multiple messaging applications for streamlined anomaly detection and human review. Many of the workstreams Michael engineered when mobile device data was first becoming a component of eDiscovery have since become standard in the industry.

In 2021, Michael was selected as the winner of the Innovation in Litigation and Discovery Solutions category of the Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards for his approach to applying quantitative analytics and AI to limit the scope of production within a repository of terabytes of Slack and other short form message data. This work was on behalf of a Silicon Valley technology-enabled financial services firm that was responding to a DOJ Second Request in relation to a multi-billion dollar acquisition. The project opened pathways for other organizations to negotiate for more informed analysis, and ultimately production, of complex data types during Second Requests.

Michael is a vocal advocate for AI-driven solutions in the privacy and incident response sector, especially when personal data is compromised and vast data repositories need to be mined for personal data elements. To this end, he architected Protect Analytics, a proprietary AI suite of sensitive data detection tooling that directly integrates within Relativity to aid legal teams in responding to data breach incidents where sensitive data and notification is required, or wherever personal data is at issue in general civil litigation matters. Through Protect Analytics, Michael has brought to the post-breach discovery sector many of the concepts we have deployed in eDiscovery to validate the results of technology-enabled review processes. He continues to educate large insurers, regulators, breached organizations, and their counsel on how to implement an AI-enabled, defensible process.

Michael routinely shares his AI knowledge externally. He has delivered hundreds of educational presentations to the eDiscovery and legal community on the intersection and practical application of data analytics and AI in the eDiscovery, digital forensics, information governance, and cyber incident response fields. He has also conducted training for DOJ and SEC staff on the practical application of AI in mobile phone forensics. He is an experienced expert witness and forensics examiner, with expertise in all data forensics eDiscovery-related processes and systems.

Commenting on his vision for the future of legal tech, Michael said, “I am committed to pioneering a future where we are learning, acting, and being guided towards data in place, regardless of the system’s location. The future of legal tech is AI-native — with the explosive growth of data volume we see yearly, we are almost there. As accuracy, reliability, and systems training become ever more seamless, so will adoption.”

About HaystackID® 

HaystackID is a specialized eDiscovery services firm that helps corporations and law firms securely find, understand, and learn from data when facing complex, data-intensive investigations and litigation. HaystackID mobilizes industry-leading cyber discovery services, enterprise solutions, and legal discovery offerings to serve more than 500 of the world’s leading corporations and law firms in North America and Europe. Serving nearly half of the Fortune 100, HaystackID is an alternative cyber and legal services provider that combines expertise and technical excellence with a culture of white-glove customer service. 

HaystackID is a trusted partner to corporations, law firms, and governmental agencies, supporting targeted audits, complex investigations, and civil litigation matters with a dedicated global team of cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery experts. Applying the potential of artificial intelligence, the precision of data science, the power of machine learning, and the practicality of expertly trained and managed reviewers, HaystackID provides clients with secure, defensible, and flexible capabilities to address the most complex and time-sensitive eDiscovery-centric challenges.