FCPA Survey by FTI Consulting Showcases Growing Data Privacy Challenge

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN), the global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance their enterprise value, today announced that its FTI Technology business practice has published the results of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation survey of 114 legal and accounting professionals who have handled e-discovery matters for either multinational investigations or cross-border litigation. In this complimentary report, The Experts Weigh In: E-discovery Strategies for International Anti-bribery Investigations, leading experts in the field share their thoughts on key trends and best practices for matters ranging from FCPA, the UK Bribery Act and whistleblower investigations.

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"Multinational investigations such as FCPA matters present complex challenges for legal teams, including data privacy laws, time pressures and language barriers," said Craig Earnshaw, a Managing Director in the Technology practice at FTI Consulting in its London office. "The survey results provide practical guidance on meeting these challenges and conducting a defensible foreign document collection and review for FCPA and other types of investigations."

Among the report's key findings:

• Forty-eight percent of respondents have conducted investigations requiring data collection in China.
• Forty percent have spent more than USD $500,000 conducting multinational investigations.
• Fifty-four percent said data privacy is the #1 challenge for multinational investigations.
• Seventy-six percent expect an increase in data privacy requirements in the coming years.

With an increased focus on FCPA enforcement by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as last year's enactment of the UK Bribery Act, corporations are increasingly required to conduct anti-bribery due diligence and investigations across the globe. Sovereign data privacy laws in the European Union, Asia and Latin America can make it a challenge to comply with U.S. regulators' expectations for credible investigations. Complying with both U.S. and foreign data privacy requirements can necessitate creative solutions and a strategic legal and technical partnership to gather and review the essential data and documents.

To help meet this challenge, FTI Investigate reduces the complexity and risk of discovery, allowing corporate legal and compliance teams, as well as their law firms, to focus on legal strategy. FTI Investigate is a software and services package with three key components: 

• On site: Because of the firm's global footprint, FTI Technology professionals can quickly deploy anywhere in the world to uncover data critical to an investigation. In most cases, the team can be up and running in less than a day. Clients benefit from control over their most sensitive data with the assurance that a defensible process is in place and in compliance with data privacy requirements.
• Technology: The FTI Technology team can collect, process and use portable implementations of the firm's award-winning e-discovery technology to review data without transferring the electronically stored information off-site to another jurisdiction. The highly scalable software enables the easy handling of volumes ranging from a few gigabytes to multiple terabytes of data.
• Global expertise: Clients benefit from the firm's extensive experience managing global matters, including in-country cultural awareness, multi-lingual capabilities and discrete execution processes that minimize disruption to clients' regular course of business. In addition, the forensic teams at FTI Technology have the credentials and experience to testify in local courts in support of collections protocols and methods.

For more information on FCPA and foreign investigations, please visit www.ftitechnology.com/investigate.

About FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 3,800 employees located in 24 countries, FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management, strategic communications and restructuring. The company generated $1.56 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2011. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.

SOURCE FTI Consulting, Inc.