Investigation & Litigation in China – eDiscovery Challenges

On January 24, AABANY members joined lawyers specializing in eDiscovery and Investigations for a dynamic discussion regarding the challenges of setting up investigations, discovery, and document review in China. The event was co-sponsored by AABANY, Consilio, CBLA, and Fordham Law School, and held in the Bateman Room of the Skadden Conference Center at Fordham Law School.

Panelists spoke on the problems with collection in China in regards to state secret review, emphasizing how Beijing does not put out guidance on what is classified as a state secret during the collection process, and that a good Chinese counsel is needed to navigate issues. Moreover, panelists remarked how many companies did not understand the IT systems they were collecting, which led to a further discussion on some practical approaches to take.  Practical advice given by the panelists included: have a strategy of doing very targeted collections, don’t always listen to your client, and engage in more on-site collections.

The event was moderated by Geoffrey Sant, a partner at Dorsey and Whitney, and the panelists included Brian Chebli, Executive Director and Assistant General Counsel at JP Morgan; John Curran, Partner at Walden Macht & Haran; William McGovern, Partner at Kobre & Kim; Jamie Underwood, Partner at Alston & Bird; Minyao Wang, Counsel at Robins Kaplan; and Dan Whitaker, Managing Director of Consilio China.

AABANY was the CLE provider, and all eligible attendees received 2 CLE credits towards the Professional Practice Requirement.

Thank you to all the speakers, volunteers and co-sponsors for making this event so successful.