Industry Trends Resources
E-discovery in 2020: The Sudden Shift in Our Data Footprint 7/21/2020
The pandemic has impacted us all in many ways, personally and professionally. Like any major event, the impact of the pandemic and its ripple effects will be studied for many years to come. This holds true for e-discovery. In this FTI Report we examine the impact of rapid change in our discoverable data make-up. We take a close-up view of what it means for legal teams---how to adapt, adjust and take action as analyzing rich media as well as fragmented chat strings become key to e-discovery and investigation efficacy.
Tips and Tricks to Prepare for Remote Depositions and Witness Interviews 6/24/2020
Worldwide, courts, governments, and legal professionals are striving to recover a semblance of continuity in their work. In the interest of maintaining momentum in important litigation and investigations, and keeping the legal community operational, many depositions, witness interviews, and court proceedings are now moving forward remotely via video conferencing. This guide offers tips and tricks that will help the legal community begin to understand best practices for remote legal proceedings, and adapt to the new normal.
SEC Cyber Report Focuses on Information Governance Best Practices 6/17/2020
In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its most substantial cybersecurity guidance to date. The report, “Cybersecurity and Resiliency Observations,” was the result of examination findings and research from the last five years, much of which was led by the commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). This is the first comprehensive guidance we’ve seen from the SEC’s cyber unit since it was established several years ago. In many ways, it reads as an examination pamphlet—outlining the essential information security practices and programs a financial services institution will need to have in place to stand up against a government raid, inquiry or investigation.
Preparing For The Shift In Discoverable Data Caused By COVID 6/16/2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred an unprecedented spike in the use of collaboration applications and the creation of unique cloud source data. Rapid adoption of tools including Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom and other communication platforms is quickly displacing email and changing the footprint of corporate data forever. Learn how to approach reviewing these data types and their exploding volumes as Tim Anderson shares his key considerations for handling the rapid shift to our data foot print.
Why Global Reach and Local Expertise Matter in Cross-Border E-discovery 6/5/2020
The interconnectedness of people, organizations and nations around the world has never been more apparent than it is today. The ongoing and rapid increase in globalization has driven change and growth in countless industries, transformation in business processes, diversification in economies, and yes, even widespread pandemics. It has also led to a spike in cross-border legal and e-discovery matters—a trend that is continuing on an upswing. Navigating international e-discovery in the best of circumstances is a challenge for even the most sophisticated attorneys. It is more so now, as legal teams struggle to adapt their work in the midst of this global health crisis.
Five Steps To E-Discovery Workforce Continuity in Our New Normal 5/4/2020
At FTI, we have adapted our e-discovery offerings to adhere to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders and distancing policies. In this guide, we share the steps we have taken to maintain continuity with the hope you can apply them to your own organization and teams.
Maintaining Continuity as We Adapt to The New Normal 4/28/2020
At FTI, we have adapted our e-discovery offerings to adhere to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders and distancing policies. In this guide, we share the steps we have taken to maintain continuity with the hope you can apply them to your own organization and teams.
Q&A: Geoff Budge Leads Technology Practice in South Africa, Offers Business Guidance for COVID-19 4/23/2020
Managing Director Geoff Budge has been working with FTI clients in South Africa for more than three years. Now, he is building a team of experts and solutions for the newly-established Technology practice in South Africa. His team will focus on expanding in the region and delivering the Technology segment’s client-centric, flexible model across e-discovery, information governance, risk, data privacy, security and legal operations solutions. We talked to Geoff about this move, and his thoughts on the biggest issues corporations in South Africa are facing during the current pandemic.
Q&A: Renato Fazzone Discusses Expanding Footprint and Client Service in Germany 4/20/2020
The recent appointment of Renato Fazzone as Senior Managing Director and Germany Head of Technology established our permanent presence in the German market for our Technology practice. Backed by more than 15 years working in e-discovery and litigation support, as well as advising clients on corporate fraud and antitrust matters, Renato is eager to expand our offerings and expertise to clients in the region. We recently sat down with him to discuss his vision, the top issues impacting German corporations today, and how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting FTI’s offerings.
Managing Your Software Assets in the New World of COVID-19 4/16/2020
Life endures even in the most difficult situations—and it adapts and evolves to meet new challenges. Now, as we watch, and fight back against the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, we are arriving at the very edge of an evolution, a new future, a new workspace model that tackles today’s limitations. With COVID-19 leading to lockdowns, organizations are facing their unique challenges as they try to cope with both the safety of their people and the continuity of business. This article will explore some of these changes related to IT and software assets, along with their potential consequences.
Q&A: Successful E-Discovery Starts with Comprehensive Case Management 2/27/2020
In e-discovery, counsel and review teams are juggling a lot of moving parts. Between collecting data across numerous locations and data types, assessing key facts, establishing workflows and determining which analytics to apply, e-discovery teams have little time to worry about the logistics of project management. At FTI, Emily Seabury and Elizabeth Noble are among the team of case managers behind the scenes, making sure everything runs smoothly from start to finish. They and FTI’s broader client teams aspire to always be anticipating the next steps to reach a client’s goal, so that the client need never to ask for an update or flag something that needs to be done. We sat down with Emily and Elizabeth to discuss our case management system, and why it is so crucial to ensuring successful outcomes for client matters.
Case Narratives and The Next Generation of Discovery 2/3/2020
As e-discovery technology advances, expert teams are utilizing new processes to improve on the existing workflows and to drive greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness in factual case strategy development. In turn, attorneys that partner with researchers will serve their clients better, faster and more cost effectively during this critical phase of litigations and investigations. This will lead to improved client satisfaction and allow attorneys to maintain their positions as trusted advisors, all while continuing to deliver consistency and quality.
Q&A: David Meadows Joins FTI, Eyes Innovation in E-Discovery and Investigations 1/30/2020
Newly appointed as a Senior Managing Director, David Meadows is bringing his e-discovery and computer forensics expertise to FTI Technology’s E-Discovery Consulting & Services and Digital Forensics & Investigations practices. Based out of the Chicago office, David will help clients leverage advanced analytics to reduce cost and risk around their data challenges. He sat down with us to discuss his new role and his thoughts on innovation.
2020 Forecast: Expect Landmark Changes in E-Discovery, Data Privacy and Investigations 12/23/2019
Across our practice areas, we asked our experts to share their predictions for what will shape legal, compliance and information governance in the coming year. Below is a roundup—across new laws, emerging technology and key industries—of what they expect will make the biggest impact to businesses worldwide.
The General Counsel Report: Corporate Legal Departments in 2020 10/10/2019
FTI Technology and Relativity partnered with Ari Kaplan Advisors to survey chief legal officers about the future of the legal industry and the skills and expertise needed for the next generation of lawyers. The results of these interviews clearly indicate an industry in transition across four key areas: the evolving role of in-house counsel, risk factors and how the modern legal department is addressing them, technology and innovation in law, and advice that general counsel have for their law firms and for future lawyers.
Europe’s highest court, The European Court of Justice ("ECJ") in Luxembourg, ruled on two cases last week involving GDPR’s right to be forgotten as it applies to information available on the internet. In the first ruling, the court held that the privacy rule cannot be applied outside the European Union. In the second, the court said the right to freedom of information must be balanced against the right to privacy and specifically the right to have links related to certain categories of personal data automatically deleted.
In Two Decades, E-discovery Has Changed and Stayed the Same 8/13/2019
E-discovery is a continually changing practice. For approximately two decades now, it has played a tremendous role in shaping the legal world. As e-discovery’s influence and prevalence has grown over the years, the technologies, economics, processes and expertise around it have in many ways become unrecognizable to what they were in the early 2000s. Still, much about the field has also remained the same.
Solving Client Issues with Relativity Trace 7/9/2019
At Relativity Fest in London, FTI Consulting’s Brian Stuart and Glenn Barden spoke with Chris Dale of the e-disclosure information project about FTI’s use of Relativity Trace on behalf of clients.
Craig Earnshaw on the Changes in E-discovery Over His Long Career 11/9/2018
Craig Earnshaw has been working in FTI Consulting’s Technology segment for 10 years and had already spent ten years in the then-nascent e-discovery and Computer Forensics world before that. In this interview he talks about the changes which he has seen over that time, identifying three main changes. One is what he calls the "frequency of requirement" – the increasing need to look at data on a computer system for any disputes/investigations exercise. Second, he points to a rise in the number of lawyers who understand and practice in areas which require a knowledge of e-discovery practice. Third, Craig points to the range and diversity of companies delivering software and services to corporations and law firms.
Advice from Counsel: State of the Union on Data Privacy & Security 2/15/2018
The 12th Advice from Counsel study explores how issues of data security and privacy impact in-house legal teams at Fortune 1000 corporations and reveals the top concerns and emerging best practices across three key and intersecting topics: the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), IG and data security and remediation.
Regulatory Compliance as a Competitive Advantage 12/14/2017
Next year, firms around the globe will be impacted by some of the world’s toughest new regulations and privacy requirements. Adapting to this new landscape was a key topic at The Lawyer's Managing Risk and Litigation conference.
Using Information Governance Tactics to Prepare for the GDPR 8/18/2017
Much like Information Governance, preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation is a cross-departmental concern that requires input from many different groups within an organization, including privacy, compliance, legal, line of business, IT and information security.
New Data Types in the App Age 7/26/2017
The legal industry is hungry for guidance on how to deal with the explosion in cloud-based applications and new data types that are creating headaches for organizations of all sizes. While the threat of big data has cast a shadow over IT and legal departments for several years, the real challenge is proving to be the variety of data, and it is quickly defeating traditional collection and review tools and strategies.
The Lawyer - Global Litigation 50 Report, 2017 7/25/2017
Technology is revolutionising the way lawyers practice their trade. To deliver the greatest value to their clients, legal professionals must know about the latest technological solutions.
A Method to the Data Madness 7/29/2016
As employees migrate to an ever-increasing number of apps, how can legal teams ensure that this data is picked up as part of the usual e-discovery process?
A Prescription that Works: Analytics for Healthcare Companies 7/28/2016
In a recent article in New Jersey Law Journal, FTI Managing Director Colleen Casey Voshell wrote about how analytics tools can boost information governance initiatives for healthcare companies and other corporations in highly regulated industries. Because healthcare organizations must juggle the tasks of maintaining compliance with regulations, dealing with a high volume of litigation and securing sensitive data that contains customer and/or patient information, information governance and overall data management are becoming exceedingly difficult to navigate.
The State of Information Governance in Corporations 3/31/2016
For this Advice from Counsel study, we interviewed in-house counsel to better understand the health and success of information governance programs within corporations. The results clearly show that with a few exceptions, most organizations are in the early stages of information governance adoption. Yet these executives have strong advice on how best to begin and implement an IG initiative. From these results, organizations can better under¬stand how their peers are successfully keeping an eye on the big picture while executing quick wins that help build momentum for broader IG initiatives.
Monumental Ruling on Predictive Coding in the UK 2/22/2016
By now you have probably heard about the February 16th ruling in the case Pyrrho Investments and MWB Business Exchange v. MWB Property and others by Master Matthews of English High Court. In the ruling, Master Matthews outlines many of today’s e-discovery (or ‘e-disclosure’) challenges for litigants – the growing mountain of data for any-sized litigant, and the shortcomings of keyword searches.
Legaltech New York (LTNY) 2016 12/22/2015
We’re excited to discuss some of the biggest trends impacting the legal industry at Legaltech New York (LTNY) 2016. Learn more about our day one panels featuring noted industry thought leaders from the bench, corporations and law firms.
Why Data Deletion Makes Sense (and Dollars) 7/23/2015
Conventional wisdom says the cost of storing data is declining. That’s true. But the total cost to businesses to store data is rising unsustainably because they are collecting — and retaining — more data than ever before. The key to controlling costs and freeing up operating capital is deleting data you don’t need to store. How do you know what you don’t need? Two words: information governance.
Measuring Your E-discovery Program Against Industry, 2015 6/11/2015
How does your e-discovery program measure against your peers? How does your team size, budget and technology adoption compare to other companies? Download the study now to learn best practices from Fortune 1000 e-discovery professionals on a range of topics, from data security to budget transparency and retention policies.
Metrics that Matter 1/26/2015
What do Van Halen, M&Ms and metrics in e-discovery have to do with one another? More than you might think.