The Complex Challenges of Cross-Border E-Discovery Management

E-discovery project management is a rapidly growing specialty. While best practices continue to evolve, no true standards or standardized protocols have been developed. Further complicating the world of traditional EDPM is the growing volume of cross-border or global e-discovery projects, giving rise to GEDPM, which is developing as a niche within a niche.

Just as cross-border or global business is fraught with regulatory, language, temporal and cultural issues, so is GEDPM. There are obvious complicating factors in the process: time zones, regulatory difference/requirements, language barriers. Often forgotten, however, are the cultural differences and the general approaches to e-discovery in other regions of the world. It is incumbent on any e-discovery professional involved in GEDPM to identify and understand these factors.

Beyond local regulations/policies, there is the issue of perspective on the entire discovery process across legal cultures. No other country approaches discovery with as expansive a view as the United States. For Americans, if it’s potentially relevant, it’s discoverable and subject to U.S. discovery rules. Contrast this with the United Kingdom, where relevance is strictly defined as documents that either help or hinder one of the parties’ cases. Further down the spectrum, in civil law countries parties need to produce only the documents they wish to rely upon as evidence.

Appropriate resources must be brought together to form the GEDPM team. This team should be empowered and able to address the myriad challenges that come with cross-border discovery.