eDiscovery

Helping you know and manage your data

Companies are creating an exponentially growing volume of data from an increasing number of sources – across the world, more than 2.8 million emails are sent every second. This data – understanding it, locating it, collecting it and preserving it – becomes especially critical during a crisis or regulatory event.

We help clients manage vast amounts of electronic data and navigate the legal and business processes that are set in motion by critical events. We offer a comprehensive range of electronic investigation services that include information governance, data collection, evidence assessment and document review, allowing you to respond effectively to legal or regulatory incidents and crises. Our experienced technology specialists, coupled with our global reach, deliver swift and efficient response times with local knowledge of privacy regulations, culture and language.

Why are eDiscovery services important?

Businesses are facing the dual challenge of an increasingly litigious environment and rising demands from regulators. Successive legislation, notably GDPR and sector-specific regulation such as MiFID II and MAR, has placed already highly-regulated organisations under even closer scrutiny. Whether a business is facing a legal challenge or regulatory demands, speed and accuracy of response is absolutely essential in order to avoid the risk of a fine, rising costs or reputational damage.

Trust us to do what’s needed

PwC’s technical expertise, business understanding and geographical reach mean we are uniquely placed to help in even the most challenging situations. Our clients can expect:

Case study: ChatA

Our client asked us for help with their review of Bloomberg chat conversation logs. Despite using one of the market leading review platforms, the data’s format meant reviewers were finding it very hard to follow conversations, which were often made up of hundreds of individual log files that when reviewed in isolation had little meaning or context. As a result, the review was taking much longer to complete and costs were quickly escalating.

We developed a new tool that made the review much more cost-effective and meaningful. The custom-built tool allowed us to group together chat logs relating to one conversation thread, in communication date order. We identified and removed duplicate, irrelevant and empty chats, reducing the population by more than 80%, before applying further analysis. We have subsequently developed an additional suite of tools that will ingest and profile a wide range of formats including Skype, WhatsApp, Microsoft Office Communicator, Reuters, Yahoo!, and SMS.

We specialise in

Data identification, preservation and collection

Our team of forensic collection specialists will work with you to identify, preserve and collect all relevant data from every source and on a global scale – including cloud and email systems, instant messages and chat data, audio/video and streaming files, social media data and hard copy documents. We will make sure your data is collected as quickly as possible, in a defensible way and with minimum disruption to the business.

Data processing and assessment

Using the most advanced technology, our team of highly skilled and experienced forensic professionals will help you understand and prioritise data, allowing you to make more informed decisions. We can narrow down the search for relevant material and identify individuals of interest, minimising the cost of investigation.

Searching, analysis and review support

We use the latest technology and machine learning to review and analyse huge pools of data, including multilingual searches and phonetic search capabilities for audio data, helping you to increase the efficiency and reduce the costs of document review exercises. Our teams are experienced in working alongside internal and external counsel, legal teams and regulators, allowing us to provide additional insight into data.

Communications surveillance

We help you manage the complexity of communication systems used by employees, including scalable monitoring solutions across multiple data sources, and maintain a consistent approach to surveillance across the business so that regulatory information requests can be met efficiently, cost-effectively and on time. We use the latest techniques to identify problematic communications aligned to your key business risks.

Transforming legal services

We work closely with law firms, giving them the confidence that data capture and preservation is carried out in a robust, forensically sound manner. Our fully scalable service can support firms through all stages of the engagement lifecycle, from guidance to the most appropriate method of data capture through to disclosure planning and witness statement creation. We offer an evolving suite of sophisticated tools and techniques and a consistent global methodology to capture, preserve, interrogate and review data and metadata, as well as a wide range of expertise in investigative analytics, forensic accounting and corporate intelligence.

How can we help you to overcome these challenges?

Contact us

Matt Joel

Matt Joel

Partner, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)7809 552273

Umang Paw

Umang Paw

Deals Chief Technology Officer & Innovation Leader, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)7931 304666

Amjid Mahmood

Amjid Mahmood

Director, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)7725 706322

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