LEGAL TECHNOLOGIES AND COMPUTER FORENSICS
CAPABILITY STATEMENT
DECEMBER 2013
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LEGAL TECHNOLOGIES AND COMPUTER FORENSICS
Our teams of industry pioneers and technical and legal experts call upon Control Risks’ proprietary technology and equipment, high-security data centres and local and regional project-management teams. These resources allow lawyers and investigators to quickly find relevant information through our software’s capabilities: email threading, duplicate and near-duplicate analysis, “on the fly” language recognition, and translation and concept grouping. Specific Control Risks services and benefits are summarised below.
Services
End-to-end capabilities: Control Risks manages a client’s entire project from beginning to end,
including project scoping, data identification, forensic data collection, early case assessment, interviews, processing and hosted document review.
Forensic imaging: We can access and analyse media found on PCs, laptops, servers, HDD, CDs,
DVDs, USB stick drives, BlackBerrys, iPhones and other mobile/smart phones.
Defensible data processing: We perform defensible processing of collected raw data, transforming
it into a structured format that enables de-duplication and/or DeNisting (the removal of all system files). This leaves the remaining files and documents ready for legal review, as a smaller data set to be searched efficiently.
Customised data review: Control Risks’ own state-of-the-art eTriumTM
technology performs highly intuitive data review. We also support some non-proprietary review systems, including Relativity and Nuix, giving clients a choice of review platforms with unique analytical tools to help quickly uncover information.
Advantages
Global footprint: Having offices in 36 locations with nine global data centres and support teams
means we can work almost anywhere in the world with little or no advance notice.
Fast, collaborative response: Control Risks’ effective, accurate proposals are based on extensive
industry experience, making our methodology clear and our clients’ costs predictable.
Predictable and transparent costs: Our simple, predictable pricing model enables clients to
forecast costs and manage budgets efficiently.
Defensible and efficient: Our eDiscovery professionals are adept at helping clients manage high
volumes of electronically stored information (ESI) and establishing defensible, repeatable processes Control Risks creates tailored preparation and response services to meet the unique needs of organisations facing legal matters in complex and emerging markets around the world. Our legal technologies and computer forensics teams help clients involved in an internal investigation or litigation, by offering litigation discovery, investigation, arbitration, financial or reputational due diligence or regulatory review.
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to prepare for future matters. With our robust analytical tools, clients can understand their ESI in depth and identify facts in advance of the case.
SERVICE AREAS
Investigations Project scoping Data processing
Early case assessment (ECA) “End to-end” project management
Machine translation services
Forensic accounting review Expert witness work Production and export services
Forensic criminal investigations Forensic data collection Data hosting
Forensic analysis/ restoration of deleted emails and electronic files (e-files)
Hard-copy collection Hard-copy services (scan and OCR)
WHAT SETS US APART?
COLLABORATION AND RESPONSIVENESS
Cross-border eDiscovery cases are becoming more prevalent. Organisations must be prepared to preserve, review, analyse and produce data from across their global business.
Control Risks works with clients to implement a defensible eDiscovery response plan that will avoid costly delays and sanctions. Our legal technology service is a global operation, with nine data centres operating around the world. Project management and support is offered around the clock, ensuring we cover all time zones. Our global reach and unmatched local understanding ‒ combined with our investigative experience and deep regulatory knowledge ‒ help anticipate hidden risks and avoid last-minute surprises.
TEAM EXPERTISE
Control Risks offers one of the most comprehensive eDiscovery platforms of any company around the world. Our team is made up of seasoned industry experts from every sector. They perform forensic collection and analysis in 36 offices, processing and hosting in nine data centres, and co-ordinated global project management.
Our aim is to continue a successful repeat business model whereby market-leading technology is complemented by day-to-day support from our expert consultants on every matter.
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DATA FORENSICS
The information technology infrastructure of corporate environments is complex and ever changing. It requires an understanding of where electronically stored information (ESI) data is stored ‒ in personal assets, live servers, journaling systems, backup media or the Cloud (and so-called “Big Data”).
Control Risks works with our clients to ascertain where data is available for preservation. Our accredited computer forensics experts are central to this mapping process, as the collection of ESI is generally performed at a forensic level to ensure evidence is admissible in a court of law.
After collecting and preserving the data, our experts assist the client with criminal and corporate matters. These range from detailed forensic analysis of crime-scene evidence to regulatory raids, and can include multiple-site, simultaneous data collection and analysis exercises. Control Risks observes internationally accepted criminal law standards in these practices.
CUSTOMISATION
Investigations and adversarial proceedings vary in size, deadline, sensitivity and complexity. Control Risks’ experienced software developers and project managers provide customised solutions to meet each client’s needs. Our proprietary technology eTrium technology features an interface with a look and feel familiar to users of Microsoft, Google or Apple products, making it user friendly. Our software development is based on the agile sprint methodology, which allows us to add and modify functionality based on client requirements. We perform this critical step monthly, as opposed to traditional six- or 12-month update models.
DEFENSIBLE AND EFFICIENT DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
ESI will continue to increase in volume as electronic communication expands and social-network platforms and technologies become even more prevalent. Control Risks’ robust analytical tools and early case assessment (ECA) capabilities enable clients to gain an in-depth understanding of their ESI. Our legal technology team, with many years of proven experience in the legal industry, helps manage that ESI using chain-of-custody logs, detailed quality controlled processes and industry-recognised techniques. By providing an advanced look into case facts, Control Risks improves a client’s ability to make strategic decisions early in the review process. We also work with clients to establish defensible, repeatable processes and prepare for future matters.
Our method for forensic computer imaging is recognised in international courts of law and adheres to the principles documented in the “Good Practice Guide for Computer-Based Evidence” (UK) of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
ANALYTICS
Control Risks’ eDiscovery software, eTrium, goes beyond the industry standards of flexibility and scalability to deliver a tailored solution that meets a client’s unique case needs. This reduces cost and risk during document review.
eTrium offers a wide range of analytical functionality, including:
Concept clustering
Communication maps
Email threading
Near-duplication analysis
Date range exploration
Language identification
“On the fly” translations
eTrium also uses visualisation tools to trace a custodian's email conversations and see the history and direction of their exchanges, within and outside an organisation. The software enables users to filter documents by discussion thread or textual similarity.
MULTI-LANGUAGE REVIEW TOOLS
Control Risks’ review platform eTrium is fully dual-byte and Unicode compliant, contains language recognition tools, and has built-in translation features. Able to accommodate any language, it is fully searchable regardless of the encoding system.
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We perform extensive quality control on all processed data, including exception handling and rendering issues. This procedure ensures specific anomalies presented by all character sets are addressed as they arise.
FLEXIBILITY
Control Risks’ international data centres are strategically located and linked to facilitate high-speed, secure transfers between sites. The centres’ locations allow us to take advantage of strong data privacy protections globally.
We also offer a portable server that can be installed “in-country” or within the client’s office environment. The server is then customised to allow reviewers to access the data from around the globe.
CASE STUDY 1
SITUATION SOLUTION OUTCOME
An international law firm was handling a £150m insurance litigation claim in the UK. Multiple parties were involved during a period of more than ten years. Data existed in various locations, including Asia.
Control Risks managed the firm’s data collection exercise. We also worked closely with the legal team to create a review strategy that involved support project support in the UK and Asia.
We processed and hosted 200GB of data.
Lawyers could access the eTrium review system in Asia as well as the UK.
We created multiple document productions in London after the document review.
CASE STUDY 2
SITUATION SOLUTION OUTCOME
The Middle East offices of a large UK law firm were conducting an internal investigation into a major United Arab Emirates organisation. Evidence existed on computers, servers and mobile devices at the client’s premises. Data sources were wide ranging and included emails, Microsoft Office documents and image files.
We forensically collected evidence from more than 140 devices, including laptops and PCs, in conjunction with the client’s management team.
We offered accurate deployment planning for the collection exercise. This ensured the many assets were imaged quickly and accurately with minimal disruption.
We processed 900GB of data from a 2Tb collection, leaving 350GB to be hosted for the legal team to run key-word searches. This would identify responsive documents to review.
Our search and analytical tools enabled the legal team to spend minimal time reviewing material to form conclusions about the investigation.
For more information about how Control Risks can help your organisation, please visit our website at www.controlrisks.com or contact our experts at:
