Epiq has formalized a dedicated global antitrust and competition group to provide joined up eDiscovery and analytics across its domestic and international matters, we can reveal. The New York-headquartered company is significantly investing in bringing in people with deep subject matter expertise to help manage projects globally, underpinned by the likes of document review and analytics technology.
The Antitrust Practice Group is comprised of functional team leaders across eDiscovery, analytics, and managed review, as well as project managers, review managers, and analytics consultants in the U.S., Canada, Asia, and the U.K./Europe. Key team members include Erin Toomey, senior director for the antitrust and competition practice group, who recently joined Epiq from Ankura. Toomey will oversee client services delivery and partner with clients to develop strategies with their antitrust and competition portfolios. Other experienced professionals on the team include senior vice president Edward Burke (who in a previous life was an attorney at Weil Gotshal); and vice president, client services, Gary Suffir.;new advadsCfpAd( 155474 );;new advadsCfpAd( 155475 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163652 );;new advadsCfpAd( 155474 );;new advadsCfpAd( 155475 );( window.advanced_ads_ready || jQuery( document ).ready ).call( null, function() {var $legalslider504237362 = jQuery( “.legal-slider-504237362” );$legalslider504237362.on( “unslider.ready”, function() { jQuery( “div.custom-slider ul li” ).css( “display”, “block” ); });$legalslider504237362.unslider({ delay:10000, autoplay:true, nav:false, arrows:false, infinite:true });$legalslider504237362.on(“mouseover”, function(){$legalslider504237362.unslider(“stop”);}).on(“mouseout”, function() {$legalslider504237362.unslider(“start”);});});
While Epiq is already an established leader for antitrust work, Suffir told Legal IT Insider: “The idea is that the team becomes cross-functional and delivers a service as Epiq: it’s not that one silo does document review, and another does analytics. We have been building our capability over a decade and have multiple matters that span the globe. What we’ve realized is that there is differentiation not just in scale but in the ability to process data quickly. We’re taking our knowledge and learning and investing more in people and subject matter expertise.”
Epiq says that it has built a technology platform for antitrust and competition matters, but what that means is that it has a vetted stack of third party tech that includes the likes of Brainspace and Reveal’s AI platform NexLP.;new advadsCfpAd( 163650 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163901 );;new advadsCfpAd( 156117 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163650 );;new advadsCfpAd( 163901 );( window.advanced_ads_ready || jQuery( document ).ready ).call( null, function() {var $legalslider1646854707 = jQuery( “.legal-slider-1646854707” );$legalslider1646854707.on( “unslider.ready”, function() { jQuery( “div.custom-slider ul li” ).css( “display”, “block” ); });$legalslider1646854707.unslider({ delay:10000, autoplay:true, nav:false, arrows:false, infinite:true });$legalslider1646854707.on(“mouseover”, function(){$legalslider1646854707.unslider(“stop”);}).on(“mouseout”, function() {$legalslider1646854707.unslider(“start”);});});
The plan is to better leverage tech but also the team’s knowledge and experience globally and Burke said: “By looking at the data in a more intelligent way you are able to get a level of intelligence early on that can drive significant cost reductions.”
Toomey said: “We can also leverage our internal knowledge and find efficiencies by working more closely together: if we are doing a deal in the EU and the US, we can manage that data set globally and bring to bear the efficiency of a large corporate like Epiq. If we know what happened last time with the Competition and Markets Authority, we can help our client negotiate better.”
Antitrust cases are on the rise thanks to a very active M&A market across the globe and Epiq works with government agencies including the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau, the European Commission, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, and the Hong Kong Competition Committee, among others.
Caroline.hill@legalitlexicon.com