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Lawyer: Hedge Funds Must Heed Foreign Corrupt Practices Act | FINalternatives

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What is the Foreign Corrupt Practices act and why should you be concerned about it?  Matthew Reinhard of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier, says FCPA penalties have increased “exponentially” over the past decade and could pose a significant economic risk to investment managers. Reinhard would know—he focuses his practice on white collar crime, internal investigations and complex civil litigation and has conducted internal investigations into allegations of FCPA violations. He spoke to FINalternatives’ recently about the implications of the FCPA for private equity and hedge fund managers.

via Lawyer: Hedge Funds Must Heed Foreign Corrupt Practices Act | FINalternatives.

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Judge to KPMG: Save the hard drives — and blame yourself | Thomson Reuters (Alison Frankel)

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Memo to KPMG: When a federal judge sends a strong signal that she doesn’t want to show up her magistrate judge, you should heed the warning.

In January, you may recall, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon of Manhattan federal court attempted to moot a hot e-discovery dispute between the audit firm KPMG and a putative class of audit associates suing KPMG for unpaid overtime. The federal magistrate overseeing discovery in the case had ordered KPMG to preserve the computer hard drives of every potential class member, including those who had left the firm. KPMG’s lawyers at Sidley Austin argued that storing the hard drives could end up costing more than the plaintiffs’ claims are worth. The Chamber of Commerce and the International Association of Defense Counsel piled on, asserting that the magistrate’s e-discovery order had the potential to fundamentally change the balance of power in class actions by making it too expensive for KPMG and other defendants in similar situations to continue litigating cases against them.

McMahon was clearly reluctant to second-guess U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cott, so in a Jan. 3 order conditionally certifying a class of audit associates, she hinted that her ruling, which focused on a classwide question of KPMG’s policy rather than individualized facts, had mooted the e-discovery flap. KPMG and the plaintiffs, represented by Outten & Golden, declined to take the hint. KPMG continued its call for McMahon to overturn the magistrate’s discovery order.

On Friday, McMahon said no — and blamed KPMG for the predicament. Significantly, the judge agreed with KPMG’s amici that “proportionality is necessarily a factor in determining a party’s preservation obligations.” She said that it doesn’t make sense for the cost of retaining e-discovery to outweigh the potential value of the information that’s being preserved. But McMahon’s 22-page opinion concluded that KPMG had been so obdurate in refusing access to the hard drives that she couldn’t conduct a proportionality analysis.

via Judge to KPMG: Save the hard drives — and blame yourself.

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E-Discovery & Litigation Support Services in Asia

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Global EDD Group provides and manages a wide range of electronic discovery and litigation support services from our technology base in Singapore, including:

We have resources that cover the entire region, including such key business cities as Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, Tapei, Toyko and points in between.  Law Firms , Corporations and Vendors interested in learning more about the services offered by Global EDD Group should call +1.888.690.DATA (3282), email info@globaledd.asia, or visit http://www.e-discovery.asia for additional information.

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A Triumvirate of FCPA Resources | Thomas Fox – JDSupra

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The three articles are: (1) “Complying With the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: A Practical Primer”, authored by the University of Chicago Law School’s Corporate Lab, co-sponsored by Microsoft, and published by the ABA Global Anti-Corruption Task Force; (2) “The IP Practitioner’s ‘Cheat Sheet’ to the FCPA and Travel Act: Introducing the IP FCPA Decision Tree”, authored by Doug Sawyer and T. Markus Funk and published in the BNA Bloomberg Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal; and (3) “Breaking Down the FCPA, Travel Act, and UK Bribery Act”, by T. Markus Funk, published in BNA Bloomberg White Collar Crime Report.

via A Triumvirate of FCPA Resources | Thomas Fox – JDSupra.

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E-Discovery Cost Recovery in the Digital Age | NY Law Journal (H. Christopher Boehning & Daniel J. Toal)

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

E-discovery is a costly necessity of modern litigation. With the ease of email and network data-storage came a deluge of litigation expenses. But producing parties, who historically have born the majority of these costs, may now find some relief in Rule 54(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Rule 54(d) provides that “costs — other than attorney’s fees — should be allowed to the prevailing party.” The awardable or “taxable” costs are listed in 28 U.S.C. §1920, and include “[f]ees for exemplification and the costs of making copies of any materials where the copies are necessarily obtained for use in the case.” At first glance, this provision might not seem to encompass e-discovery costs. Since an amendment in 2008 that replaced the word “papers” with “any materials,” however, courts uniformly have concluded that §1920 covers at least some e-discovery costs.[FOOTNOTE 1]

The question that remains is what e-discovery costs are recoverable. Courts confronting this question have identified five elements that a party must establish to tax its adversary with e-discovery costs: (1) the party seeking costs must have been the “prevailing party”; (2) the costs must stem from a modern equivalent of “copying”; (3) the costs must have been necessary; (4) the costs must be reasonable; and (5) the costs must be sufficiently documented to support the other elements.

Although these elements provide a useful analytical framework, they provide an uncertain guide as to how courts will actually rule on requests to recover e-discovery costs. Indeed, courts frequently come to inconsistent conclusions regarding seemingly similar requests for costs. Although it remains the case that there are few bright-line rules as to what e-discovery costs are taxable, trends are beginning to emerge in how courts interpret each of these requirements.

via E-Discovery Cost Recovery in the Digital Age.

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Motorola Tablet Goof: 4 Security Lessons For Users – Informationweek (Eric Zeman)

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Motorola alerted customers on Friday that it shipped about 100 refurbished Xoom tablets that were not completely cleared of the original owner’s data prior to resale. The tablets were sold between October and December of 2011 through Woot.com. Oops.

According to Motorola, some of the compromised data potentially includes user names and passwords for email and social media accounts, as well as other password-protected sites and applications, and possibly even photographs and documents.

First, Motorola is offering customers who purchased a Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi tablet between March and October 2011–and then returned it–a complimentary two-year membership of Experian’s ProtectMyID Alert to mitigate any risks. Experian provides access to consumer credit data, and can be used as a tool to make sure the accidentally shared data is not put to nefarious use. The Xoom was available from a number of retailers during that period, including Amazon.com, Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale, eBay, Office Max, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Staples, and others. If you bought one from the aforementioned retailers and returned it, best give Motorola (and Experian) a call.

via Motorola Tablet Goof: 4 Security Lessons For Users – Security – Mobile Security – Informationweek.

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Concept Searching’s new Smart Content Framework : KMWorld

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Concept Searching has announced the Smart Content Framework for information governance. The company says the toolset provides an enterprise framework to mitigate risk, automate processes, manage information, protect privacy and address compliance issues.

Concept Searching describes the Smart Content Framework as a multi-disciplinary solution—delivered through its technologies—that encompasses the entire portfolio of information assets. Underlying the Framework are functionalities to transparently tag content, classify it to organizational taxonomies, preserve and protect information through the automatic identification of records and privacy data, and act as a migration tool, Concept Searching says.

via Concept Searching’s new Smart Content Framework : KMWorld.

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Google: Digital Music Case Has Cloud Law Implications – Informationweek (Thomas Claburn)

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In an effort to defend the legal basis of cloud computing, Google on Wednesday asked a New York court for permission to file an amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court brief, in a record industry lawsuit against ReDigi, an online market that facilitates the resale of digital music files.

A letter from the law firm representing Google, Fenwick & West, warns against granting the preliminary injunction requested by plaintiff Capitol Records. “A premature decision on incomplete facts could create unintended uncertainties for the cloud computing industry,” the letter states.

The court, however, denied Google’s request, on the basis that the parties in the lawsuit should be able to address the issues without assistance.

ReDigi describes itself as a used record store for digital music. It offers consumers a way to buy and sell pre-owned digital songs.

Record companies don’t like this idea because they assume people purporting to sell digital songs are actually just making copies, in violation of copyright law. Capitol Records sued ReDigi last month for copyright infringement, alleging just that.

via Google: Digital Music Case Has Cloud Law Implications – Cloud-computing – Platform as a Service – Informationweek.

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Electronic Discovery: It’s Just Technology, Right? | AmericanBar.org (Howard Reissner & Daryl Shetterly)

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Newly minted lawyers who barely remember the days before texting, Facebook, and smartphones were part of our daily lives may be forgiven for wondering why so much angst has developed at the intersection of law and technology. Surely our sophisticated legal system can adapt to the increased use of electronic communication, right?

If you weren’t on the scene to watch it unfold, it may be hard to appreciate the ways the explosion of information our clients create and store has changed the face of discovery. There was a time when clients sent us a folder or box of paper containing the documents relevant to the litigation.

Now the data is likely to come on a hard drive containing gigabytes or terabytes of data that, if printed to paper, would fill the lobby of our law firm with boxes. Finding the relevant documents is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack. Depending on the value of the case, it may cost more to find the relevant documents than the case is worth.

So how can you help litigants meet the goal of a “just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding” referenced in Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure?

When faced with an electronic discovery issue, think about it in terms of people, process, and technology.

via Electronic Discovery: It’s Just Technology, Right?.

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Anonymous hacks call between FBI and Scotland Yard about hackers | Digital Trends (Trevor Mogg)

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A recent trans-Atlantic call between the FBI and the UK’s Scotland Yard in which operatives from the two law enforcement agencies discussed ongoing cases regarding a number of alleged hackers was intercepted and recorded—by hackers.

“Do you want to talk about cheese?” is the conversation opener in a trans-Atlantic phone call intercepted by hacker collective Anonymous between the FBI and the UK’s Metropolitan Police (aka Scotland Yard).

Once the issue of cheese had been dealt with, the participants in the conversation moved on to more pressing matters—such as how to deal with Anonymous. Of course, they had no idea the group was recording their conversation. And once it was over, the hackers uploaded the call to the Web.

Though part of the conversation centered on trivial matters, such as the merits of the British city of Sheffield (“it’s not exactly a jewel in England’s crown”), more important subjects were covered, such as the current situation with Ryan Cleary, a British man arrested last June for his alleged involvement with hacking group LulzSec. Another alleged hacker, whose name was bleeped out by Anonymous, was described by a British operative as “a pain in the bum.”

The FBI admitted that the call, which took place some time in January, was genuine and that it was now looking for those responsible for recording it and putting it online.

via Anonymous hacks call between FBI and Scotland Yard about hackers.

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