Building Out the Future of Pittsburgh’s Top e-Discovery Firm

When Susan Ardisson, Esq., founded bit-x-bit in 2007, she created what has become one of the premier digital forensics and e-discovery firms in the Pittsburgh region. 

Following the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 2006, Ardisson established bit-x-bit to provide technical expertise to guide lawyers and other professionals through e-discovery and digital forensics challenges. She built the firm’s reputation for excellence, earning bit-x-bit the Allegheny County Bar Association’s exclusive endorsement in 2008 and in every succeeding year. 

That success has since led to additional innovation through the use of advanced analytics tools and the firm has expanded to provide cybersecurity, incident response and information governance services. 

After nearly 15 years, Ardisson transitioned the firm’s leadership to John Unice, who joined bit-x-bit as Executive Vice President and General Counsel in February 2020. Ardisson will continue to support bit-x-bit as a member of its board of directors, providing her business acumen and legal insights to the firm. 

“It is a very exciting time for our company and our clients. I am honored, and humbled, to follow in Susan’s footsteps,” says Unice. “I am fortunate to inherit the great team that Brett Creasy (President and Director of Digital Forensics) and Susan have built and look forward to creatively helping our clients solve their challenges.” 

Unice and Creasy are looking at new ways to continue bit-x-bit’s growth, such as end-to-end service models and leveraging artificial intelligence for data analysis. Unice said bit-x-bit will also focus on growing its client roster across the United States while expanding its portfolio of products and services.

“We continue to add state-of-the-art products and services, whether a client needs to sift efficiently through terabytes of data to discover and persuasively present key evidence at trial, prevent hackers from breaching essential security measures or retrieve stolen data,” Unice said. 

Creasy noted that bit-x-bit will also reach across more industry verticals. “Increasingly, bit-x-bit’s client base includes not only law firms and in-house counsel, but also businesses of all sizes, non-profits, government agencies and educational institutions that rely upon the firm’s full range of services,” he added.

Both Unice and Creasy are excited to build a team of experts with a true client-service focus. They explained that, from bit-x-bit’s founding, perhaps the greatest value-add for clients has been the company’s holistic approach to solving the most complex challenges, through a team that assimilates deep legal and technical insights. 

“We are problem-solvers,” Ardisson concluded. “Our clients come to us with extraordinarily complex challenges that demand superior legal and technical expertise. We know the pressures they face, whether as in-house counsel, law firm litigators, business owners or information security professionals. Our team has sat in their seats and know how to give them what they need to succeed. John adds tremendous strength in that regard.”

Keep up to date with bit-x-bit by following them on LinkedIn and Facebook and by checking out their website at: www.bit-x-bit.com.