One of the most vexing problems for global companies and their lawyers is how to identify, collect and use electronically stored information in e-discovery without ending up in jail or facing huge fines. The most obvious problem is that countries have very different laws about personal privacy, often developed in reaction to their unique histories—especially if that history included repressive regimes where personal information was used to identify and kill dissidents.
At the Georgetown Advanced E-Discovery Institute’s recent panel, “First Do No Harm: Preserving and Admitting Foreign ESI,” panelists offered analysis and advice on this challenging topic, which becomes more difficult by the day as the world becomes increasingly “smaller” with the explosion of inexpensive mobile devices and communication options.
