Introducing Asia Legal Technologies – a venture of DMC and Global EDD Group
Global Electronic Discovery & Disclosure Group (“Global EDD Group”), a boutique consulting firm that provides innovative legal technology solutions across the globe, today announced the formation of Asia Legal Technologies™ (“ALT”), a strategic alliance and joint venture with Data Management Corporation (“DMC”), a document and data processing solutions company based in Singapore. ALT combines the experience, knowledge and resources of DMC and Global EDD Group to provide innovative arbitration, due diligence and litigation support services throughout the Asia-Pacific Region.
Asia Legal Technologies is uniquely able to meet the needs of the most challenging projects by leveraging a vast network of technology and operational resources along with facilities in Hong Kong, China (Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou), Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Dubai. From these facilities and on-site locations throughout the region, ALT provides a wide range of services including:
- Data Collection & Preservation,
- Imaging & Coding,
- Early Case Assessment (ECA),
- Data Filtering, Analytics & Processing,
- Asian Language Support & Translation, and
- Document Hosting & Review.
This strategic alliance provides significant advantages to our legal, financial and corporate clients through streamlined communication, project management and logistics. ALT’s bilingual project managers work with consultants based in Asia and North America to provide seamless project management that minimizes the impact of time zone, language and cultural differences.
Further information on Asia Legal Technologies is available online at www.asialegaltech.com or via email request to information@asialegaltech.com .
About Global EDD Group
Global Electronic Discovery & Disclosure Group (“Global EDD Group”) was founded by Mixner with the vision of bridging the wide gap between domestic organizations and their growing national and international legal technology needs. Global EDD Group provides legal technology services for matters with a national or international scope, specializing in remote and onsite services ranging from data identification to document review. Global EDD Group is based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA with regional offices in San Francisco and New York City. Additional information is available by visiting www.GlobalEDD.com.
About Data Management Corporation
Established in year 2003, Data Management Corporation (“DMC”) is Asia’s leading Document & Data Processing Services and Solutions Provider. Our strategic partnership with CCH Workflow Solutions since 2004, has strongly positioned the DMC as “The Litigation Support Provider of Choice in Asia”. Together, we have successfully completed hardcopy discovery and Data Room services projects in various countries such as Japan, China (major cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guang Zhou and remotely in Qin Huang Dao), Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia. We have received satisfactory comments and feedback from clients we have worked with, ranging from Law firms, Forensic / Consulting / Accounting firms and US / UK based eDiscovery/Litigation support partners. Additional information is available by visiting www.i-dmcorp.com .
Murky world of corruption in China | BBC News
Bribery and other forms of corruption are problems often encountered by foreign businesses operating in China.
This can result in companies providing clients with expensive trips abroad, lavish meals and red envelopes stuffed with money.
But not all businesses get drawn into this murky world; some say they abide by the same high standards they observe elsewhere.
And one foreign business advisor said firms that supply good products and services will always do well – even if they refuse to be corrupt.
The use of bribery in the business world in China has come into sharp focus because of the trial involving four executives working for the Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto.
The four were sentenced in Shanghai to between seven and 14 years in prison for taking bribes and stealing commercial secrets.
But how much of a problem is bribery for foreign firms operating in China?
One British businessman, who did not want to be named, said it was a big problem, particularly in China’s smaller cities.
He told the BBC of one occasion when he was trying to set up a joint venture company with a Chinese partner in Shandong province.
Negotiations had been going on for weeks, without any success, he said. Then, at one meeting, he was asked to step outside for a chat with an official.
“He said all the problems could be overcome – so I asked him how. He said it could be done if I gave him 1m yuan ($146,000: £98,000),” said the businessman.
China Indicts Rio Tinto Executives
Chinese prosecutors have indicted four executives of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.
The No. 1 branch of the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate charged the executives Wednesday with bribery and infringing on trade secrets. All four were arrested last year on suspicion of industrial espionage, but no spying charges were brought Wednesday. The executives, led by Australian citizen Stern Hu, were held without being formally charged since July, as Chinese authorities completed their investigation.
Citing court statements, the official Xinhua news agency said prosecutors claim the executives took “advantage of their position to seek profit for others, and asking for, or illegally accepting, huge amounts of money from Chinese steel enterprises.” As such, Xinhua reported, the executives allegedly “lured the Chinese enterprises’ heads with promises, or through other illegal means, to obtain the steel companies’ commercial secrets on multiple occasions, causing “extremely serious consequence[s]” for the companies.”
Rio Tinto is one of China's largest suppliers of iron ore. The basis of the case is the suspicion that the company may have resorted to bribery and acquisition of trade secrets to inflate by billions of dollars the price of ore sold to Chinese companies, many of which are state-owned.
The arrests and the suspected political motivations behind them have caused widespread concern among Western businesses operating in China, “raising fears that other executives could be accused of bribery or arrested because of commercial disputes with Chinese companies,” The New York Times reports.
Will Shanghai Overtake Hong Kong as World Financial Center?
A report by British law firm Eversheds claiming that Shanghai could overtake London as a world financial center in 10 years has led to a predictable round of hand-wringing from the British press, including the Financial Times, the BBC and the Telegraph.
But not all of Asia is gloating. Missing altogether from Eversheds’ report is the city that’s most worried about losing ground to Shanghai: Hong Kong.
Obviously, such surveys are to be taken with a grain of salt; after all, over a tenth of Eversheds’ respondents predicted Dubai would emerge as the world’s preeminent financial center in decade’s time.
And Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with a separate local government and legal system, has been booming recently. So far this year, its exchange is leading the world in initial public offerings, mostly on behalf of mainland Chinese companies. It remains the preferred regional base for global banks and, consequently, international law firms.
Still, Hong Kong has long had a complex about Shanghai, which was the region’s preeminent financial center before falling under communist rule in 1949. Now that that same communist government has embraced capitalism, fears abound that Shanghai will be promoted at Hong Kong’s expense.
That anxiety was reflected in a Reuters article last week, in which one Hong Kong banker fretted that his city would become a second city — a Boston or a Chicago to Shanghai’s New York.
via Will Shanghai Overtake Hong Kong as World Financial Center?.
Paul Hastings Lawyers Jailed in Hong Kong for American-Style Practices
Back in 2002, to any number of global law firms, Zhou Zhengyi might have looked like a dream client. That year, the Shanghai property developer had just been ranked the 11th richest man in China by Forbes, and he was ready to put some money outside the mainland.
But the deal he hatched in Hong Kong that year — taking out a loan to acquire a publicly traded property development company, then paying back the loan with cash held by the acquired company — proved part of a long pattern of fraud and corruption. Zhou was arrested in Shanghai in 2003 and sentenced the following year to three years for illegally procuring property and loans. In November 2007 he was given another 16 years for bribery and tax fraud.
Here's the real caution flag for firms, though: Lawyers on the deal have now been in prison for over a year.
In September 2008, three Hong Kong lawyers who worked on Zhou's acquisition — Donald Koo and Vivien Fan of Paul, Hastings, Janofksy & Walker's Hong Kong office and Simon Lai of Hong Kong-based Deacons — were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to almost three years. Their crime: crafting disclosure documents concealing Zhou's plans from investors and regulators.
[continued] Paul Hastings Lawyers Jailed in Hong Kong for American-Style Practices.
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