LexTrado is excited to welcome international E-Discovery expert, Waseema Harrison, to their growing team. Harrison is one of the most experienced Litigation and Investigations Technology specialist in the country.
Having worked in E-Discovery for over 14 years, she has played a pivotal role in a number of landmark cases and now brings her unparalleled knowledge of leading-edge data analysis technology to LexTrado.
LexTrado is a local leader in litigation support, specialising in litigation information gathering and sorting. Known for its capacity to process and analyse data in a fraction of the time traditionally required for manual review, LexTrado can process 10 gigabytes (GB) of data per hour.
In August 2017 alone, LexTrado collected, processed and analysed 2 terabytes (TB) of data – about 7.2 million documents.
“I’m looking forward to working with the LexTrado team,” says Harrison. “I want to share my international experience and skills and help make the company the best E-Discovery service provider in South Africa.”
Breaking new ground
Harrison’s impressive career has included senior management roles at Deloitte both in the UK and Cape Town, as well as eight years as the Director of Litigation Technology at Hobs Legal Docs in London.
She has worked on investigations into cartel activities, led data analysis on alleged internal fraud in the motor manufacturing industry, and given expert evidence to the State Prosecutor and SAPS in a case of fraud within the South African arm of a global corporation.
For Harrison, the highlight of her career so far has been heading up the teams that worked on what was the largest internal financial investigation in global history.
“I ran a team of 30 people working in Munich, Germany for 18 months and a large team in our office in London working 24 hours a day for more than two years. During this investigation we broke new ground by finding hidden documents using our E-Discovery technology.”
Harrison notes another career highlight as the use of Technology Assisted Review (TAR or Predictive Coding) on a major construction matter in the UK. “I’m looking forward to the first case in SA using this fantastic technology,” she enthuses.
Bringing global standards to SA
Founder and Managing Director of LexTrado, Danny Myburgh, says Harrison’s appointment further strengthens and expands the company’s service offerings to clients locally and internationally.
“Our clients will benefit from the ability to expedite projects while simultaneously increasing accuracy and cost efficiency – all with reduced litigation costs through the use of the cutting-edge technology and expertise,” explains Myburgh, adding that Waseema’s experience will ensure all projects adhere to the strictest local and international requirements.
Harrison says there are many challenges in this space in SA as the country is still relatively inexperienced in global E-Discovery. “It will be important to continue to educate and inform lawyers about the workings and E-Discovery to bring them in line with global standards,” she concludes.
With the proliferation of electronic communications, E-Discovery is playing an increasingly important role in the litigation process. The team at LexTrado are experts in obtaining and analysing all electronically-stored information for the purpose of pre-trial motions and trials themselves.
To find out more about LexTrado’s comprehensive litigation support services and to request a consultation, visit www.lextrado.com.