header-logo header-logo

19 January 2012 / Robert Brown
Issue: 7497 / Categories: Features , Training & education , Profession
printer mail-detail

Lost in translation

Robert Brown provides a lesson on multi-lingual e-Discovery

 

Traditional e-Discovery exercises are often based on an assumption that the documents of interest are in the English language. However, in today’s globalised business environment, companies have multinational corporate parents, subsidiaries, suppliers and customers, and frequently conduct business in languages other than English. 

This situation is exacerbated by the increase in cross-border disputes and regulatory investigations, which leads to companies needing to locate and retrieve data from local offices and subsidiaries in multiple countries. Alarmingly, many organisations have no strategy in place for dealing with non-English documents. For example, if, at the disclosure stage, a company claims they have disclosed everything of relevance, without taking adequate measures to search any foreign language documents, and later review reveals documents that are relevant but have not been disclosed, the repercussions can be serious. It is, therefore, imperative that legal professionals are prepared to deal with multilingual document review projects as a matter of course.

Effect of language on review

When it comes to
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
back-to-top-scroll