CPA Global launches US legal outsourcing practice to focus on regulatory enforcement actions and investigations

• Move comes as corporate clients face spike in regulatory proceedings while needing to control legal spend
• Latest Fulbright & Jaworski Litigation Survey indicates that in-house counsel expect a jump in spending on government investigations
• Strong market demand for streamlined case management and electronic discovery with greater cost controls; CPA Global team has handled 200+ matters internationally

CPA Global, one of the leading providers of outsourced legal services, has formalized a new practice that meets an urgent need for its corporate clients: help with regulatory enforcement actions and internal investigations.

Having handled a sharply increasing number of client assignments tied to government actions, CPA Global decided to establish a formal regulatory group in response to a new era in enforcement that has gained pace and volume in recent months under the Obama Administration.

Driven by a combination of political will, the financial crisis and a number of high-profile corporate and investment scandals, government regulators are committing greater resources and exercising subpoena power to pursue business wrongdoing and non-compliance. Virtually no industry or sector of the economy has been spared.

In addition to stepped-up enforcement by a number of federal agencies such as the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), state Attorneys General have weighed in with their own headline prosecutions and investigations. Targets include single companies as well as entire industries, along with named individuals from the executive suite and board room. Companies doing business abroad are also seeing heightened attention to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), following record-breaking fines and penalties announced in 2009 involving alleged bribery schemes in Asia, Europe and Africa.

U.S. companies are acutely feeling the weight of government regulators. The October 2009 Fulbright & Jaworski Litigation Trends Survey reports that 11% of in-house counsel surveyed plan on increasing spending for regulatory and investigative work in the coming year, while 16% are preparing to spend more on electronic discovery.

Montgomery Kosma, a former competition counsel with top-tier law firms who has recently joined CPA Global to co-chair the new regulatory group, said: 'The paradigms for conducting large-scale investigations and litigation have changed dramatically in recent months. Government action and private lawsuits are moving so rapidly that companies need to respond more quickly than ever before, constructing a rational narrative of events, identifying key issues and providing a lucid analysis to present to regulators. The greatest challenge in this process is the need to gather and organize massive troves of data - much of it through electronic discovery - without racking up a huge legal bill.

'As law firms continue to reduce headcount in an attempt to cut costs, a premium has been placed on litigation and investigative teams who can execute with speed, efficiency and expertise,' Kosma said. 'A well-managed case is as vital to a successful outcome as top-flight legal counsel – especially given the benefits of understanding the factual landscape early and the potential penalties if processes go off the rails.'

Kosma's own background provides a good snapshot of the diverse skill sets that enhance a complex investigative engagement under the changing landscape of dispute services. A law graduate from the University of Chicago, he has served a clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the nation's foremost court for cases brought by federal regulatory agencies, and been a member of the global litigation and antitrust practices at leading law firms Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Jones Day.

Most recently, Kosma spent several years as a management consultant, working with McKinsey & Co. and advising senior business and legal executives on operations engineering, organizational design and information management.

CPA Global's regulatory group is co-led by Brandon Daniels, a veteran fraud investigator who has managed multiple billion-dollar matters involving the SEC, FTC, DOJ and other agencies. Daniels, who directs both onshore and offshore legal services operations, has extensive knowledge of class action and multi-jurisdiction litigation, as well as e-discovery and litigation workflow.

'Our 200 lawyers, working out of 17 offices in eight countries bring a sophisticated understanding of the law and regulatory statutes, combined with tested project management experience – both sets of talents are needed in the face of discovery deadlines, looming trial dates or meeting government timelines for information,' he said.

The regulatory group's senior managing attorneys who are responsible for overseeing all projects have substantial experience in directing large matters such as antitrust mergers and investigations, environmental crimes and class actions and financial fraud. The majority of CPA Global's attorneys have eight to 15 years of law firm or in-house experience before joining the company.

Other senior members of the regulatory group include:

Brian Flack, a former litigation partner in the white-collar and regulatory enforcement practice at Venable LLP. Flack has counseled clients on numerous internal investigations, including matters centered on compliance and document retention.

Jeffrey Teso, a seasoned litigator who helped lead his prior law firm's e-discovery and document review efforts on litigation, arbitration, internal investigations, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Teso is a member of the Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Documents Retention and Production.

Vivek Hatti, a civil litigator with a concentration in handling financial fraud, commercial and product liability cases.

CPA Global has recently handled investigations throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, working on behalf of prominent companies in the mining, consumer products and medical equipment industries. The team has managed more than 200 matters for corporate and law firm clients, handling more than 500 million pages of critical documents, an average of 2.5 million pages per case.

In the U.S., CPA Global has principal litigation and document review offices in Washington, D.C., Dallas, Minneapolis and Arlington, VA., though the firm can call on any of its global offices for support. Additional review centers are housed in India. The company prides itself on maintaining low cost structures with expert implementation of leading-edge legal technology.

In many cases CPA Global can achieve in just 30 days what used to take 90 days or longer in a large investigation. In a recent assignment involving the collection, review and presentation of data in a FCPA matter, CPA Global deployed teams across three continents to pull together all relevant documents, while working with local counsel in each country to advise on data privacy and other local laws. The company was asked to manage input from the client's outside counsel as well as its forensic accountants and other advisers. CPA Global subsequently completed the investigatory review in multiple languages, while creating a clear chronology of events and building factual summaries of issues, and even translating key documents for counsel.

Paul McGolpin, CPA Global's Director, Legal Services Outsourcing said: 'Government agencies have thrown down the gauntlet across multiple industries and we don't anticipate the current regulatory environment easing up any time soon. That is why CPA Global has gathered such a high caliber group of professionals such as Brandon Daniels and Monty Kosma to develop and deliver innovative and cost effective approaches to help them deal with the mounting challenges they face.'

About CPA Global

CPA Global is the world's leading provider of legal services outsourcing, including litigation support, contract and document review, and intellectual property (IP) management. With offices across Europe, the United States, Asia and the Pacific, CPA Global supports many of the world's best known corporations and law firms with a diverse set of legal and IP specific requirements, helping them to realize value by managing risk, cost and capacity.

Founded in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1969, CPA Global today employs more than 1,200 people in 17 offices in eight countries, serving clients' needs in over 100 countries.

For further information visit: www.cpaglobal.com

Media contacts

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UK
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