http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/147610/fti-consulting-sheds-light-on-e-discovery-trends-in-asia
Global business advisory firm FTI Consulting, Inc. conducted a study, which is focused on legal, technical and cultural issues associated with e-discovery in Asia. The study was conducted in collaboration with Asian Legal Business magazine.
Lately, regulators globally have been intensifying their efforts to curb fraud and corruption, working closely with regulatory agencies of other countries to investigate potential violations. However, global companies can easily breach Asian data protection laws while defending themselves in lawsuits and government investigations. Companies that are not equipped to navigate Asia’s complex legal landscape can face severe consequences like steep fines and even criminal prosecution.
FTI Consulting helps these firms safely conduct e-discovery in Asia, using their extensive experience and skilled knowledge, thus reducing the complexity involved in litigation.
The company’s study specifically highlights the unique challenges encountered by multinational corporations and law firms in dispute resolution in Asia, and provides guidelines about how to manage e-discovery complexities in the region. The report found that data privacy issues, new regulations and Chinese state secrecy laws are the most vital concerns among multinational firms.
Among those, concerns relating to data privacy laws and confidentiality emerged as the leading challenge, with 79% of the respondents citing privacy or data protection as a definite risk expected to result from new Asian regional laws. Also, the most consistent problem while running a review project was finding suitable technology to support the intricate workflow required to meet local data privacy or state secrecy regulations.
Regulatory investigations surfaced as another leading driver of e-discovery in Asia, per 67% of the respondents. These investigations are a consequence of regulatory attempts to enforce anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, along with company-driven internal compliance reviews.
Nearly 40% of the respondents believe that new laws in China will influence the management of electronic data in legal review. Importantly, the country’s laws relating to secrecy can prevent documents from being taken out of the country, and any legislation concerning the same will have huge impact.
The study is intended to enable multinational companies to carefully conduct defensible discovery within Asia. The company provides a range of products that help multinational entities conduct end-to-end investigations on-site and comply with country-specific data privacy requirements.
For corporations and law firms managing global e-discovery, FTI Technology provides a range of offerings to conduct defensible discovery in Asia. This includes local hosting of the industry-leading Ringtail software, as well as Investigate, a discovery offering incorporating FTI Consulting experts, equipped with Ringtail, to conduct end-to-end investigations on-site at company locations and in compliance with country-specific data privacy requirements.
