Monday, January 3, 2011

Superior Document Services provides customized support to law firms | Richmond Times-Dispatch




A nice article in todays Richmond Times Dispatch touches on the essence of what we do at Superior Document Services, yet misses the human factor - the loyal and hard working Superior Document Services employees.

We have some of the most dedicated, passionate and tenacious employees on the planet. I can't tell you how many 24 hour shifts they have worked, how many holidays they have spent at Superior and how many thousands of hours Superior's team has spent learning and training to be the best they can be. "Making it happen" isn't just lip service - its what we do!

The heart of a business is the loyalty and strength of its employees - so this article is a testament to the backbone of Superior - its employee's. The soul of a business is its customers, Thanks to the Richmond legal community for your support and loyalty over the past 12 years.

the text of the article is below:


Kriss Wilson and Renee Covington of Superior Document Services usually can be found at their downtown office working early in the morning.

"Most of our business is on an emergency basis for the legal field to meet court-imposed deadlines for documents," Wilson said. "We do whatever it is we have to do."

Wilson and Covington, along with Jeff Neiman, started the Richmond-based company in 1998. Superior provides law firms with support including copying, scanning, forensic collecting, back-file converting and storing documents.

"We provide anything a lawyer needs to prepare a case for trial," Wilson said. "We provide start-to-end solutions."

Since its founding, Superior has grown from having three copy machines, two computers and six employees to 15 copiers, hundreds of computers and 30 employees. Sales are up 39 percent for the 12 months ending Nov. 1 compared with the same period a year ago.

"I think this is directly related to our large investment in infrastructure and software during 2009," Wilson said.

The company operated from a 600-square-foot office at Sixth and Franklin streets until November, when it moved to 707 E. Main St.

The three owners decided to start Superior so it would cater to the needs of the Richmond market.

Wilson and Covington met in the 1990s while working at competing national firms that provided niche services to the legal profession. Neiman worked in banking.

"We are nimble and small and can turn on a dime," Wilson said. "We wanted to customize our services to the customer's needs instead of using a cookie-cutter approach."

Lawyer John Craddock Jr. of the firm LeClairRyan likes that Superior is locally owned and operated.

"You are dealing with a person who understands your needs and is immediately responsive," he said. Superior "does whatever it takes to get the job done, and they do it right. We have used them on all kinds of different jobs. They are capable of doing high volumes of work."

In the beginning, Superior's main business was copying legal documents.

Superior added services such as managing electronically stored information used during the discovery stage of litigation as law firms and companies have moved from paper to electronic data storage.

"Electronically stored information has to be collected in a way that is consistent with best practices," said Michael Yager, director of e-Discovery at Spotts Fain PC, a Richmond-based law firm. "We use Superior in many instances to perform forensic collections of (electronically stored information). They can prepare data in a way to seamlessly upload it into our review platform."

Yager also discussed Superior's dedication during an out-of-state document collection and review project for the law firm that had to be done on a strict timeline.

"They picked me up at midnight on a Thursday and drove for 12 hours to another state to perform collection," Yager said. "They drove straight back and started processing the job on Saturday. At the end of the project, our client cited them for their level of commitment."

Most of Superior's larger clients have offices around the world. In recent years, Superior has sent some of its employees to China and Taiwan to collect data.

Confidentiality is of utmost importance.

"Everything we do is under the strictest confidence," Covington said. "We work in a secured facility that is not open to the public."

The company works with law firms, federal enforcement agencies, government agencies and corporations.

They often work on high-profile cases. "CNN showed pictures of our boxes going into the Michael Vick bankruptcy trial," Wilson said.

Gilbert "Bud" Schill Jr., a partner at the Richmond law firm McGuireWoods, uses Superior because of its reliability and impeccable customer service.

"It's an excellent company run by excellent people," he said. "They are very accommodating. When you need something on a weekend or holiday, they will go out of their way to help you out."

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