Using E-Discovery Technology To Mitigate FCPA Exposure

Technology that has been developed for e-discovery can also be used internally by companies to carry out Foreign Corrupt Practice Act internal investigations, to both prevent and ferret out violations. These are important goals in the face of a new DOJ pilot program that tightens up FCPA enforcement at the same time it provides leniency to companies that self-disclose and cooperate, writes John Tredennick in a Today’s General Counsel article. “Evidence of FCPA violations could lie hidden in emails, electronic documents, and other files that could be stored anywhere across the company’s global footprint and in any mix of languages,” he writes. “Searching all that data thoroughly and quickly can be done only with the help of the right technology.” That technology can be used to both confirm or reject initial suspicions, but all programs are not equally suited to the task. He lists features that should be part of any e-discovery system being adapted for FCPA purposes, among them the capacity to read and search in multiple languages.