FTI Consulting, Inc. announces that the Technology segment is expanding in Canada with the appointment of new team members and addition of new technology offerings. Andrea Williams, a 16-year e-discovery industry expert, has joined the Toronto office as a Managing Director to grow the Technology segment across the country.
Corporate legal teams and law firms in Canada have experienced significant changes over the past year, including an increase in the diversity and volume of data sources that have become relevant in e-discovery and the need for more efficiencies in legal operations. These developments have raised questions about the efficacy of existing workflows and technologies, and the extent of technology modernization initiatives needed in the face of new challenges. Ms. Williams will focus on expanding FTI Technology’s solutions and expertise in Canada to address these issues across key practice areas, including E-Discovery & Investigations; Information Governance, Privacy & Security; and Corporate Legal Operations.
“Worldwide, corporations and law firms are experiencing new and intensifying challenges that impact governance, risk, compliance and technology adoption,” said Sophie Ross, global chief executive officer of the Technology segment at FTI Consulting. “Our team is well positioned to respond to the related challenges and opportunities and will continue to expand both our breadth of expertise and global footprint in support of our clients’ needs. I welcome Andrea’s leadership in ensuring our practice in Canada is driving innovation and service excellence in meeting new and emerging demands.”
David Meadows, a senior managing director within the Technology segment at FTI Consulting, added, “E-discovery, document review, legal operations and information governance needs are evolving rapidly as organizations adapt to increased regulatory enforcement, changes in law and new ways of working. Andrea brings extensive experience to address these issues across e-discovery, legal technology design and implementation and best practices for applying technology alongside human expertise. She understands the market and will help bring the full range of FTI Technology’s solutions to clients in Canada.”
Ms. Williams has worked with leading Canadian law firms, government agencies and corporate clients to respond to complex litigation, regulatory investigations and a range of large evidence management and litigation support projects. She has led high-performance teams in ensuring the timely and cost-effective provision of professional services and technical solutions for clients at every stage of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model. Prior to joining FTI Technology, Ms. Williams held senior management and vice president roles at Ricoh eDiscovery, formerly Commonwealth Legal, in Canada, where she was responsible for technical services, technology and emerging solutions.
Michael Lalande, an e-discovery industry expert with eight years of experience, also joined the Toronto office as a Senior Director to lead the Managed Document Review practice in Canada. Mr. Lalande comes to FTI Technology after acting as E-Discovery Counsel at one of Canada’s leading law firms, where his practice focused on e-discovery, information governance and the management of digital information on a wide range of litigation and regulatory matters. He was named as a Who’s Who Legal National Leader for E-Discovery Practitioners in 2020.
In addition to the appointment of new leaders, FTI Technology is expanding its partnership with Brainspace to include its availability as part of the firm’s e-discovery managed services in Canada. FTI Technology’s team brings technical expertise and solutions using Brainspace for early case assessments, investigations, document review, multi-language review and other use cases. This follows an announcement from earlier this year that FTI Technology expanded its partnership with Relativity to provide RelativityOne in Canada.
“Canadian legal professionals are committed to finding ways to work smarter and more efficiently in e-discovery and law department management,” Ms. Williams said. “This has cultivated a healthy openness to technology adoption and modernization initiatives. As datasets continue to grow and discovery becomes increasingly complex, I believe we’ll see even more momentum behind advanced tools to streamline e-discovery as well as other core legal functions. I look forward to building upon this progress to help clients experiment with analytics, increase efficiencies and reduce their overall legal spend.”
To learn more about how FTI Technology utilizes Brainspace, visit here.