HaystackID

HaystackID is an eDiscovery, digital forensics and managed review services firm founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It pairs legal discovery work with cybersecurity, data breach response and information governance services for corporations and the law firms that represent them. The firm is private equity owned, recapitalized by Quad-C Management in 2020.

Scale has come mostly through acquisition: Flex Discovery in 2015, Envision Discovery and Inspired Review in 2017, eTERA Consulting in 2019, a 2020 merger with NightOwl Global that added European delivery, Business Intelligence Associates in 2022 and eDiscovery AI in 2025. Hal Brooks ran the firm as chief executive from 2018 until January 2026, when he became executive chairman and Chad Pinson, formerly of Stroz Friedberg and Baker Botts, took over.

HaystackID at a glance:

• Founded: Founded in 2011 as a legal discovery services business, reaching its present scale through six acquisitions and mergers over the following decade.
• Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, with a second United States office in Dallas and European operations in London and Dublin supporting cross-border matters.
• Ownership: Private equity owned, recapitalized by Quad-C Management in 2020 after earlier backing from Knox Capital, ORIX, Baird Principal Group and Maranon Capital.
• Legal Technology Portfolio: Sells HaystackID, listed in this directory, a services-led offering spanning eDiscovery, forensics, managed review and cyber discovery on Relativity.
• Market Focus: Serves large corporations and law firms across North America and Europe in litigation, antitrust and white collar investigations and breach response.

What legal teams should know: HaystackID is bought as a service provider rather than licensed software, so evaluation turns on review quality, security controls and how per gigabyte or per reviewer pricing is set. Its roll-up history gives wide capability, though delivery teams arrived from different acquired firms, and the chief executive changed in January 2026.