AI, innovation, familiar faces, new connections, and a little actual magic. Relativity Fest 2026 gave us lots to talk about.

We arrived in Chicago with a simple invitation for the Relativity community: See What’s Possible. 

And between the keynote, packed sessions, conversations at our booth, another Innovation Award win, and a Speakeasy that was the place to be, we had plenty of opportunities to do exactly that. 

Relativity Fest has always been one of our favorite weeks of the year. It’s a chance to reconnect with people across the industry, exchange ideas, discover what’s coming next, and hear firsthand how organizations are navigating the challenges we’re all working to solve. 

This year, those conversations felt especially relevant as AI continues to reshape how legal teams work, the volume and complexity of data grows, and the pace of innovation shows no signs of slowing down. 

Here’s what stood out to us. 

The Keynote: AI Is Growing Up, and So Are the Expectations

Relativity opened Fest by acknowledging something many of us have been feeling: keeping up with AI is becoming a job of its own. 

Between new models, capabilities, integrations, and regulations, legal professionals have more options than ever. But having more choices doesn’t necessarily make decisions easier. 

Throughout the keynote, Relativity shared how AI adoption is accelerating across its platform, with capabilities extending from early matter intelligence and review into analysis, case strategy, and work product. The focus is shifting from experimenting with AI to incorporating it into real workflows and measuring its impact. 

What made the conversation particularly interesting was the emphasis on the human side of that transformation with trust, explainability, validation, and confidence being recurring themes. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into legal work, understanding how results are reached and knowing when to rely on them is becoming just as important as the technology itself. 

For an industry built on defensibility and accuracy, that’s a conversation worth having and it’s one CDS is having with clients every day. 

The Documents Know: Putting AI to Work

One of our favorite moments of Fest was seeing CDS’ Michelle Broxman and Nicole Guyer take the Spotlight Stage for their Tech Talk, The Documents Know: How aiR Assist and Custom Analyses Reveal What Traditional Search Misses. 

Michelle and Nicole explored how these newer capabilities can help teams approach complex questions, uncover information, and apply AI to specific challenges that traditional search alone may not address. 

Their session also reinforced an important point: knowing which AI tool to use is only part of the equation. Understanding the data, developing the right approach, and evaluating the results are what make the technology useful and impactful. 

By now, we all know it’s easy to get caught up in everything AI can do, but hearing real experts talk about how to put it to work, that’s a gamechanger. 

If you missed their session, catch their expertise within our 5 in 5 series where Michelle covers Finding Answers Faster with aiR Assist and Nicole shares How To Make AI Matter-Specific with Custom Analyses. 

Going Beyond Yet Again

We had plenty to celebrate at this year’s Relativity Innovation Awards. 

CDS entered Fest as the only organization with five unique innovations represented across all five categories, including two finalists. We were already proud of the work our teams had put forward, but the conclusion to a great Fest would give us another reason to celebrate. 

CDS’ AI-Powered Forensic Triage won the 2026 Relativity Innovation Award in the Beyond category! 

That makes two consecutive Beyond wins for CDS, following our 2025 award for Vision Financial Analysis. 

While the back-to-back recognition is exciting, what makes these awards particularly meaningful is that the winning innovations address two very different challenges.   

Vision Financial Analysis helps investigators make sense of complex financial datasets while AI-Powered Forensic Triage transforms forensic data into structured, review-ready information, helping teams move more efficiently from collection toward investigation and analysis. 

The timing is particularly relevant given Relativity’s introduction of Early Case Intelligence, which focuses on delivering earlier insights to support faster, more informed decisions. CDS’ AI-Powered Forensic Triage complements that direction by helping investigative teams make sense of complex forensic data earlier in the process. 

Both innovations reflect the same philosophy that drives innovation at CDS: understand the problem, challenge the existing approach, and find a better way forward. 

We were also proud to see DACH Intelligent Investigations recognized as a finalist in the Workflow category, alongside our other submissions in Discover, ACT, and Organize. 

Five innovations, five categories, and now two consecutive Beyond wins. To learn more about any of these solutions, reach out to us at . 

Eight Modern Data Challenges. Tons of Possibilities.

We brought a little magic to the CDS booth this year, complete with an interactive Magic 8 Ball experience that invited attendees to explore eight very real and current modern data challenges. 

From AI adoption and workflow automation to modern communications, mobile collections, cloud migration, and cross-border investigations, the challenges reflected many of the issues our clients are working through today. 

The experience provided fun answers, but our experts were readily accessible to discuss the real ones. 

It was a great way to start conversations about how CDS is extending the capabilities of Relativity through our Vision and Convert technologies, developing practical workflows, and helping organizations navigate increasingly complex data environments. 

And judging by the conversations we had throughout the week, there was no shortage of challenges worth exploring. Check out the experience for yourself and see what’s possible for the modern data challenge that just might be in front of you. 

CDS Had a Few Things to Say

Our booth wasn’t the only place to find CDS expertise. Our experts were part of some incredible panels. 

Client Director Lorraine Gulley joined a discussion on modernizing the FOIA lifecycle, exploring how connected workflows can help public sector teams manage requests more efficiently while maintaining oversight and accountability. 

William Wallace Belt, Esq., Managing Director, Consulting, participated in a panel on choosing the right AI tool for litigation workflows, examining where different technologies fit and why validation and human judgment remain essential. 

Senior Consultant Michelle Broxman also joined a session on building scalable Relativity training programs, sharing approaches to helping teams develop the skills and confidence needed to get more from their technology. 

We love seeing our colleagues contribute to these conversations, especially when the topics reflect real challenges from real experts aimed at helping clients succeed every day. 

The CDS Speakeasy: A Little Magic, A Lot of Great Company 

Of course, no CDS trip to Relativity Fest would be complete without our Speakeasy. 

We returned to Untitled Supper Club on Wednesday evening and welcomed clients, partners, colleagues, and friends for one of our favorite traditions. 

There were incredible performances from our aerialists, a mentalist who left people wondering how he did it, fantastic food and cocktails, and a room full of familiar faces and new connections. 

As much as we enjoy talking about technology, there’s something special about getting everyone together without a presentation or meeting agenda. 

Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the evening so memorable. We loved celebrating another year of partnership, innovation, and collaboration with you. 

And if you missed it this year, we’d suggest keeping an eye out for the next CDS event. 

TL;DR: We Saw What’s Possible

Between the keynote, our speaking sessions, conversations at the booth, another Beyond Innovation Award, and an unforgettable evening at the CDS Speakeasy, Relativity Fest 2026 gave us tons to celebrate and even more to think about. 

We’re encouraged by the innovation happening across the Relativity community and excited about the opportunities ahead. 

If there’s one thing we’re taking away from this year’s Fest, it’s that technology will continue to change what’s possible, but the expertise behind it remains essential to making those possibilities meaningful. 

We’ll be continuing the conversation in the months ahead, sharing more from our experts, our award-winning innovations, and the modern data challenges we’re helping clients solve. 

Until next year, Chicago!