George Socha, cofounder of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), the framework that has guided e-discovery since 2005, and who The American Lawyer named an “E-Discovery Trailblazer” in 2013, has joined the global e-discovery company Reveal as senior vice president of brand awareness.

A litigator earlier in his career, Socha became an e-discovery consultant who, together with consultant Tom Gelbmann, published an influential annual e-discovery survey from 2004 to 2010. In 2005, Socha and Gelbmann developed the EDRM, which they sold to Duke University School of Law in 2016 (and which Duke sold last October to e-discovery veterans Mary Mack and Kaylee Walstad).

Socha most recently served as managing director of BDO USA’s Forensic Technology Services practice. In May, he was laid off from that position.

In his new role with Reveal, Socha will help guide development of the product roadmap and will consult with Reveal customers on effective deployment of legal technology, the company said.

This is the second major announcement for the company in as many months. In August, it announced that it had acquired the artificial intelligence technology company NexLP.

“This is a really exciting time to be a part of Reveal,” said Socha. “With the acquisition of NexLP, Reveal is at the very forefront of the next generation of legal technology. I am thrilled to play a role in the industry adoption of AI-powered technology and communicate the value Reveal’s e-discovery platform brings to legal, risk and compliance professionals worldwide.”