The e-discovery company DISCO is welcoming Susan Garcia, a divisional general counsel at WebMD, as its new legal chief, as new CEO Eric Friedrichsen seeks to revitalize leadership and strategy. Garcia, a 26-year veteran attorney with stints at Thomson Reuters and NBCUniversal, is stepping into her first general counsel role.

Garcia’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for Austin, Texas-based DISCO, which is striving to turn around slowing revenue growth and address workplace culture concerns. Friedrichsen, who took over in April following the resignation of founder Kiwi Camara amid sexual harassment allegations, has placed customer focus and operational effectiveness at the center of his strategy. He has also emphasized improving employee engagement to foster a stronger workplace environment, which he argues will ultimately enhance customer service and business outcomes.

Garcia’s extensive in-house experience across multiple industries makes her a valuable addition to the team. She began her legal career at Clifford Chance before moving in-house, and has spent the past 26 years gaining broad expertise in legal strategy, compliance, litigation, corporate transactions, and governance. Her recent role at WebMD saw her handling legal challenges in the health-tech space, a background that aligns well with DISCO’s aspirations to further innovate in legal tech.

One of Garcia’s immediate challenges will be addressing a class action lawsuit filed by investors in 2023, which alleges that DISCO misled shareholders about its growth prospects. The company is awaiting a ruling on a motion to dismiss the case, which was filed in May. Reflecting on her new role, Garcia noted, “Trust is an essential quality for any company, but it is especially vital in the legal space,” and expressed her enthusiasm for DISCO’s commitment to compliance, data privacy, and innovation.

Friedrichsen, in a statement, pointed to the company's positioning at the crossroads of regulation, data privacy, and technology, and said Garcia’s background in risk management would help solidify DISCO’s role as a trusted partner in the legal tech space.

Founded in 2013, DISCO went public in 2021, but the company’s stock performance has been lackluster, with shares currently trading around $6, down significantly from their $32 IPO price. The company is valued at $356 million, a far cry from the $2.3 billion it commanded upon going public. Revenue growth has also slowed dramatically—after rising 77% in 2021, it increased just 18% in 2022 and 2% in 2023, while only 6% growth was recorded in the first half of 2024.

Despite these challenges, Friedrichsen has outlined a path to recovery, which includes focusing sales efforts on large, high-potential customers. Currently, DISCO’s top 300 customers, many of them Am Law 100 firms, account for 75% of the company's revenue. Friedrichsen also sees promise in DISCO’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, Cecilia, launched in July to assist users in navigating e-discovery processes through natural language queries.

While DISCO has made strides in innovation, Friedrichsen acknowledged that broad adoption of AI tools like Cecilia would take time and that significant revenue gains from the technology are not expected this year. "The heartbeat of our platform remains e-discovery," he said, underscoring that DISCO’s core focus will continue to be on the services that initially built its reputation in the legal market.