Inventus Blog

Last month, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body that sets global standards relating to anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT), published its much anticipated guidance on how its 200+ member and observer states will have to start regulating virtual asset markets in their jurisdictions.

FATF detailed which types of virtual asset (VA) activities (a virtual asset is a representation of currency, rather than currency itself) must be regulated and the minimum requirements it expects from regulators, which far surpasses current efforts in most countries. The guidance can be used as an aid to implement existing FATF recommendations for other financial instruments.

Consider for a moment the problems of criminals: The money they earn, spend, transfer or move – as a result of crimes committed or as part of the planning process for crimes as-yet-to-be-committed – has the high potential to raise the suspicion of law enforcement. If criminals wish to live to fight another day, they must conceal the origins of their ill-gotten gains – typically by “laundering” their money.

Inventus’s resident linguist, Jérôme Torres Lozano, continues to explore in this second and final part of the series - “It’s all Belgian Fries to me… or The Art of Multilingual eDisclosure” - the evolution of multilingual document processing and review by cleverly balancing the use of emerging technologies and human resources.

-> Missed Part I? Click here to read it!

"Un type spécial de beauté existe qui est né dans la langue, de la langue et pour la langue.” – Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) French philosopher and poet

As a Belgian national born to Spanish parents, my love affair with languages started at a young age. I was brought up bilingual in a country with three national languages: Dutch, French, and German. This meant that I was constantly exposed to different languages and cultures. When growing up in Brussels, reading traffic signs, street names, and publicity boards displayed both in Dutch and French became second nature.

Do you know your  from your ? How would you react if someone sent  to you? What does  even mean?

We recently attended the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) in Las Vegas, which is always a great time to connect with colleagues and clients to discuss the evolving world of legal operations. As litigation and regulatory investigations grow increasingly international in scope, it’s becoming more important than ever for corporate legal departments, outside counsel, and legal service providers to work closely together like a finely-tuned machine to ensure successful outcomes and disciplined, efficient operations.

In November of 2017, the Department of Justice modified its FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy – the policy which guides compliance officers, corporate counsel, and internal auditors on compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The DOJ’s modification required companies subject to FCPA regulations to completely prohibit their employees from using ephemeral messaging – popular examples of which include WhatsApp, WeChat, Signal, Viber, and Snapchat.

This policy banned any company doing business across borders from using many popular platforms for communication without risking FCPA noncompliance; essentially limiting companies to conduct all communication through email and other standard forms of communication.

Cloud computing – or data storage in the cloud – is often touted as a cure-all for the woes of mounting ESI costs. Whether considering cloud computing for the home with storage backup services like Google Photos or iCloud, or considering cloud computing for a business process like eDiscovery, the same considerations apply: How do you know your data is really secure? How can you be sure you won’t be subject to a breach, and how can you ensure your provider doesn’t accidentally lose or delete your data – or do something illegal with it (intentionally or by mistake)?

When it comes to personal privacy, these questions are worth serious consideration. And when it comes to litigious – or potentially litigious – data involved in corporate litigation or regulatory investigations, these questions can make or break a law firm or corporation’s reputation and significantly affect profitability. A cloud provider’s security vulnerabilities could, if exploited, not only compromise the security of its clients, but also extend culpability to any of the provider’s clients who didn’t properly vet their vendors.

So what can lawyers who handle large amounts of litigious data do to ensure that their firms, corporations, and their ownreputations are secure when working with the many vendors who handle and store discovery data on behalf of legal clients?

What’s the first thing we want clients to know about us? Naturally, we want them to know we can deliver legal services to them more efficiently than our competitors.

We have the technology, expertise, and infrastructure to handle eDiscovery projects from information governance through production, and our staff are creative and qualified – ready, willing, and able to help our clients solve the complex problems that inevitably arise during discovery projects.

The cartel law boutique Euclid Law and the eDiscovery service provider Inventus hosted the kick-off event in the series "Antitrust Law and Digitization" on February 14, 2019 in Frankfurt. In a very free and constructive format, the representatives of ThyssenKrupp AG, Commerzbank AG, and Innogy SE presented their views on the challenges and opportunities of digitization for their industries.

Initially, the internal clarification of possible antitrust violations played a role in the discussion and participant questions. Especially with regard to the question of how the internal compliance structures for the proactive compliance information should be set up technically and organisationally. The speakers provided information about the nuances of the respective industries and their priorities.