eDiscovery Mergers, Acquisitions, and Investments in Q2 2020 Since beginning to track the number of publicly highlighted merger, acquisition, and investment (M&A+I) events in the eDiscovery ecosystem, ComplexDiscovery has recorded 430* M&A+I events between November 2001 and today. While not all-inclusive due to the fact that M&A+I events are not always publicly disclosed and some announcements are intent-based and not the actual completion of an event, the abridged listing of M&A+I events maintained by ComplexDiscovery notes key industry events by sharing event date, company involvement, and event amount (if known). Based on an aggregate review of the abridged listing through…

Editor’s Note: The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the Irish supervisory authority for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It also has functions and powers related to other critical regulatory frameworks, including the Irish ePrivacy Regulations (2011) and the EU Directive known as the Law Enforcement Directive. In this recently published report (June 2020), DPC Ireland shares a country-specific GDPR regulatory activities update to assess the range of regulatory tasks for 25 May 2018 to 25 May 2020. DPC Ireland 2018-2020 Regulatory Activity Under GDPR* Scope of the Report This report is intended to assess the range of regulatory tasks…

Editor’s Note: This is the nineteenth quarterly eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey conducted by ComplexDiscovery. It is also the second time the survey has been conducted during the current pandemic. The current global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to alter life as we know it. It also continues to alter the business landscape of everyone in the eDiscovery ecosystem. Please take the time to share your confidence in the business of eDiscovery by completing this short survey. Your place in the eDiscovery ecosystem is important. And so is your opinion. The Summer 2020 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Since January 2016,…

The 2020 Chambers Litigation Support Guide is a comprehensive guide to the leading professional services providers in key markets worldwide. Compiled by researchers and supported by more than 500 in-depth interviews with senior market leaders around the world, the guide rates organizations and lawyers on key qualities to include: Technical Legal Ability Professional Conduct Client Service Commercial Astuteness Diligence Commitment Additional Qualities as Highlighted By Clients The rating system for the litigation support guide consists of banded rankings for organizations and lawyers. These banded rankings are based on surveys and significant achievements, with an aggregate rating band assigned by Chambers…

Editor’s Note: Announced late last week by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s most widely adopted cloud platform, AWS Snowcone is a small, ultra-portable, rugged, and secure edge computing device for collecting, processing, and moving data to AWS from disconnected environments. Given the recent shift in the eDiscovery ecosystem from onsite to remote operations, this device may provide an interesting option for law firms and legal departments seeking to collect, store, pre-process, and transfer data from remote environments to AWS for more intensive processing. Press Announcement via Business Wire AWS Announces General Availability of AWS Snowcone Today [June 17, 2020],…

Press Announcement via PRNewswire  Mitratech Acquires CMPG Risk Solutions to Strengthen Its Enterprise Compliance Suite with Best-in-Class Vendor Risk Management Mitratech, a leading provider of legal and compliance software, today [Jun 22, 2020] announced its acquisition of CMPG, LLC.  By adding CMPG’s products to its existing Enterprise Compliance Suite (ECS), Mitratech will reinforce what’s already the first-ever end-to-end range of software solutions for elevating corporate risk management, data privacy, and information governance. CMPG is focused on providing software solutions for the financial services, healthcare, and insurance industries.  Its two main products are: VendorInsight®, an award-winning Vendor Risk Management (VRM) solution. Procipient®,…

Five Great Reads is a selection of research, reports, and articles published on the ComplexDiscovery blog and shared regularly to inform and update legal, business and information technology professionals on data discovery and legal discovery.* Click here to read the complete newsletter of the latest Five Great Reads Click here to subscribe to Five Great Reads Update Individuals and Organizations Highlighted in the June Edition include: Bavarian State Commissioner for Data Protection (BayLfD) Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) California Department of Justice Cyberspace Solarium Commission European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) Maria Maleshkova NIST Representative Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) Sebastian Bader…

Editor’s Note: The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is an independent EU Authority that contributes to safeguarding the stability of the European Union’s financial system by enhancing the protection of investors and promoting stable and orderly financial markets. As part of its role in assessing risks to investors and markets, ESMA recently published consultative guidelines for cloud outsourcing. This update presents ESMA considerations for financial market participants on outsourcing cloud service providers. While focused on financial markets, the information may be beneficial for legal, business, and information technology professionals as they consider the cloud. Consultation Paper: Draft Guidelines on…

Press Announcement via PRNewswire Onna Raises $27M Series B to Scale World’s First Knowledge Integration Platform (KIP) Onna integrates workplace apps, enabling people and organisations to unify, protect, search, automate and build on top of their proprietary knowledge Onna powers applications such as compliance, governance, archiving, eDiscovery, search and bespoke internal workflow apps Investment round, led by Atomico, will be used to grow engineering, product and partnerships teams to develop Onna’s ecosystem of integrations and applications As part of this investment round, Atomico’s Ben Blume will join the board Onna, the world’s first Knowledge Integration Platform (KIP), today [June 17,…

Editor’s Note: The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is the European Union’s independent data protection authority, tasked with ensuring that the institutions and bodies of the EU respect data protection law. Earlier in the year, the European Commission published a communication highlighting a European strategy for data. This update presents the EDPS view on that Data Strategy. European Data Protection Supervisor Opinion 3/2020 on the European Strategy for Data  Executive Summary The European Commission published on 19  February 2020 a Communication  “A European strategy for data”. It is part of a wider package of strategic documents, including…

Editor’s Note: Given the changing environmental and economic conditions based on the outbreak and impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), eDiscovery professionals are considering business revisions to their 2020 plans and also making or accelerating eDiscovery decisions supporting the collection, processing, and review of electronically stored information (ESI). One of the key home (onsite) and away (remote) decisions that business, legal, and IT professionals in the eDiscovery ecosystem are currently having to consider is how they plan for and execute the core eDiscovery task of collection in today’s new world. From adjusted market sizing to selected task pricing, the…

Editor’s Note: Taken directly from the recent NIST media release highlighting the first large-scale “black box” study to test the accuracy of computer and mobile forensics, the following information is provided to describe the new digital forensics research initiative from NIST which, according to Barbara Guttman, leader of NIST’s digital forensics research program, is designed to help better understand the state of the practice and measure how well digital forensics experts do their job. NIST Media Announcement NIST to Digital Forensics Experts: Show Us What You Got Digital forensics experts often extract data from computers and mobile phones that may…