Antitrust E-Discovery
E-Discovery often plays a critical role in the outcome of antitrust matters. The size, scale, and document-intensive nature of most antitrust matters - litigation, mergers, and investigations - requires us to take a strategic approach to efficiently discover critical facts and put them into usable perspective. Our team is on the cutting edge of e-discovery technology, as shown, for example, by our ability to collect, review and produce more than 170 million pages in connection with a second request response in a major telecommunications merger - in only 90 days. Our team has been able to use its experience with regulators and technology to get out in front of investigations and respond in numerous matters within weeks of receiving requests for documents.
But effective use of e-discovery technology goes beyond just responding to requests for documents or efficiently reviewing high volumes of electronic materials produced by other parties. As a proactive measure, we offer an innovative e-discovery audit, designed to assess the readiness of each company's technology systems and electronic document practices to respond to e-discovery requests. Based on the audit results, we offer specific solutions to reduce the potential for spoliation of electronic documents (and the accompanying sanctions that could result), and advice on updated document retention practices, which can sharply reduce the overall burdens of complying with e-discovery requests.
We also offer a variety of alternative fee arrangements to provide greater budget certainty, and provide the proper project management and oversight to all aspects of the review, to ensure that the process is both efficient and effective in advancing our clients' substantive positions.
Examples of e-discovery representations include the following second requests:
- Rio Tinto's divestiture of its Jacob Ranch mine
- AT&T's acquisition of Centennial Wireless
- Reed Elsevier's acquisition of ChoicePoint
- AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth
- SBC Communications acquisition of AT&T
- SBC Communications' and Cingular Wireless's acquisition of AT&T Wireless
- Pratt & Whitney's acquisition of Boeing's Rocketdyne business unit
In addition to these second requests, we have handled the e-discovery aspects of numerous government investigations in telecommunications, chemicals, aerospace and other industries.
For more information, visit Crowell & Moring's E-Discovery Practice.
For more information about our antitrust e-discovery practice, please contact Jeane Thomas.