Managed document review is an essential component of multijurisdictional global investigations, providing a systematic and efficient approach to review large volumes of documents for relevance, privilege, and potential legal risks. By leveraging managed document review, organizations can streamline the investigation process, enhance accuracy, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with various jurisdictions’ legal requirements. Here are some key considerations for leveraging managed document review in multijurisdictional global investigations:
Centralized Review Platform: Establish a centralized review platform that can handle diverse document types and formats, including emails, electronic files, scanned documents, and more. The platform should support multilingual capabilities, enabling reviewers to handle documents in different languages relevant to the investigation.
Data Collection and Preservation: Develop a robust data collection and preservation strategy to ensure that all potentially relevant documents are identified and preserved in a defensible manner. This involves utilizing forensic tools and techniques to collect data from various sources, such as email servers, file shares, collaboration platforms, and cloud storage.
Early Case Assessment (ECA): Prioritize an early case assessment phase to quickly evaluate and identify key documents that are critical to the investigation. This involves using technology-assisted review (TAR) techniques, such as predictive coding or clustering algorithms, to categorize and prioritize documents for review based on their potential relevance.
Cross-Jurisdictional Understanding: Engage legal experts who possess expertise in the relevant jurisdictions’ laws, regulations, and language to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the review requirements. This helps to address jurisdiction-specific legal issues, including data privacy, privilege rules, and other compliance considerations.
Multidisciplinary Review Teams: Assemble a multidisciplinary team of legal professionals, including attorneys, paralegals, and subject matter experts, who are familiar with the investigative process and have expertise in relevant areas such as antitrust, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, or financial fraud. The team should be well-versed in the review platform and equipped to handle cross-border complexities.
Quality Control Measures: Implement robust quality control measures throughout the document review process. This includes regular sampling and monitoring of reviewer accuracy, consistency, and adherence to review protocols. Quality control protocols should be established to ensure a high level of accuracy and reliability in the review results.
Continuous Communication and Collaboration: Foster ongoing communication and collaboration among the investigation team members, both within and across jurisdictions. This ensures consistent understanding of case objectives, updates on review progress, and alignment on legal strategies.
Technology-Assisted Review (TAR): Leverage technology-assisted review tools to expedite the review process, reduce costs, and enhance accuracy. TAR techniques, such as predictive coding, can be employed to train the review platform to prioritize and rank documents based on their relevance, thereby reducing the manual review workload.
Defensibility and Audit Trail: Maintain a defensible review process by documenting all activities and decisions made during the review, including search terms, sampling methodologies, reviewer notes, and validation protocols. This audit trail helps demonstrate transparency, compliance, and defensibility in case of challenges or legal inquiries.
Regulatory Compliance: Stay up to date with the evolving regulatory landscape, including data protection and privacy regulations in relevant jurisdictions. Implement appropriate measures to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and ethical standards during the document review process.
By following these considerations, organizations can effectively leverage managed document review to navigate the complexities of multijurisdictional global investigations, promoting efficiency, accuracy, and compliance throughout the review process.