Extract from Victoria Hudgins’ article “With International Matters, E-Discovery Providers Have to Become ‘Data Management Ecosystems”
While e-discovery vendors may tout their software capabilities when dealing with international matters, on-the-ground talent is still a make-or-break critical asset.
Over the past few years, e-discovery has had to contend more often with data from chat and collaboration platforms stored in various parts of the world. But while it’s becoming a common occurrence, vendors said regulatory restrictions and tech limitations are still complicating their international e-discovery matters.
The days of custodians’ data resting exclusively in domestic platforms are fleeting, said Leigh Vickery, chief strategy and innovation officer of e-discovery and compliance provider Level Legal. But regulators haven’t eased up on their control of data.
“If you’re dealing with things outside of the U.S., non-U.S. companies [or] non-U.S. chat platforms it’s a completely different set of challenges,” Vickery said.
Preserving and collecting data in the People’s Republic of China, for example, is a tedious process that requires proactive planning and teaming up with local experts, Vickery noted. Those additional challenges include participating in a state secret review, partnering with a China-based notary, abiding by China’s proportionality laws and obtaining consent from appropriate regulatory bodies, steps that require a new holistic approach from e-discovery vendors.
