Patrick Burke looks at best practices for multinational companies when faced with contrasting privacy laws over electronically-stored data
Multinational companies with UK and US facilities find themselves in what is often a no-win situation when it comes to e-disclosure. On one hand, they are legally obligated to respond to discovery requests in cases before US courts that require the collection, review and production of electronically stored information (ESI) – email and other electronic documents – stored on the computers of their UK employees. On the other hand, they are faced with the fact that UK data protection laws disfavour the collection and transfer of ESI due to stringent protections of employee privacy.
