December 2025 Privilege Protection Amendments to Fed.R.Civ.P. 16 and 26
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended on December 1, 2025, adding a new subsection to Rule 16 and revising Rule 26(f)(3)(D). The changes require parties to address privilege and protection issues, including timing and method for complying with Rule 26(b)(5)(A), in their discovery plans and scheduling orders. They also encourage courts to issue non‑waiver orders under Fed.R.Evid. 502 and promote flexible privilege‑log formats. Early “rolling” production and proactive planning aim to reduce end‑stage disputes and discovery burdens.
Scotland Explores Non-Biometric IDV for ScotAccount
Scotland’s ScotAccount digital identity platform is broadening verification beyond biometrics by introducing knowledge‑based verification (KBV) and tapping alternative public‑sector data sources. Existing alternatives such as landline‑based two‑factor authentication for older users, the Young Scot NEC, and a CivTech‑sponsored vouching pilot already...
SEC and CFTC Progress Toward Harmonized Crypto Regulation
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have signaled a coordinated push toward a unified regulatory framework for digital assets. Recent staff memoranda and public statements outline joint rulemaking initiatives, shared definitions, and cross‑agency enforcement...
From Stopgap to Status Quo: Why There’s No Going Back on PI’s Digital Shift
The pandemic‑driven move to video calls and e‑filing in Ontario’s civil courts has become permanent, with plaintiff‑side firms like Singer Kwinter now operating a virtual‑first model. Senior litigator Shane Katz estimates that about 98 percent of pre‑trial proceedings are conducted via Zoom, a...
Shanghai Launches Cross-Border Digital Authentication for Foreign Business Registration
Shanghai has rolled out a cross‑border digital identity platform that enables foreign firms, starting with Singaporean investors, to register online. The new system replaces paper‑heavy notarisation with distributed identifiers, verifiable credentials and blockchain checks, shrinking registration time from a week...
Magnet Forensics Shares The 2026 State Of Enterprise DFIR Report
Magnet Forensics released its sixth annual State of Enterprise DFIR Report, surveying over 360 private‑sector investigators. The findings highlight four defining trends for 2026: AI adoption jumps to 68%, SaaS‑based real‑time collaboration grows 24% year‑over‑year, mobile evidence remains critical yet...
CobbleStone Software Announces Major VISDOM AI Enhancements to Accelerate Contract Review and Collaboration
CobbleStone Software has rolled out major upgrades to its VISDOM AI platform, boosting document processing speed and embedding AI tools directly into its collaborative editor. The new preloading feature lets users drag‑and‑drop contracts for background OCR and analysis, eliminating long...
Nippon Life Insurance Company of America Sues OpenAI for Practising Law without a License
Nippon Life Insurance Company of America has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that its ChatGPT chatbot engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by helping a claimant reopen a settled disability case. The plaintiff claims the AI generated...
Reframing Corporate KYC: Encompass Targets Back-Book Exposure with Scalable EC Review
Encompass has introduced EC Review, a scalable service that automates the remediation of legacy corporate KYC records for banks. Using the firm’s EC360 data engine, the solution processes thousands of client profiles in batch, delivering refreshed ownership and control data...
Why so Many Firms Lose Momentum with Copilot, and What Leaders Can Do to Get Things Moving Again
UK law firms have embraced Microsoft 365 Copilot, purchasing licences and running pilots, but usage has plateaued as enthusiasm wanes. The stall stems from a lack of governance, role‑specific training, and confusion between the free Copilot Chat and the full Copilot...
Detego Global Launches Artefact_Compare For Rapid Device Integrity Verification
Detego Global introduced Artefact_Compare, a new feature within its Detego Analyse AI+ suite that automates device integrity verification before and after field deployment. The tool captures pre‑deployment snapshots, re‑captures post‑deployment data, and automatically flags added, removed or modified files across...
Craig Matthews, LEAP CEO: LegalEx London Shows How AI, Used Properly, Can Unlock Real Efficiency for Law Firms
At LegalEx London, LEAP CEO Craig Matthews emphasized that AI must be integrated, governed, and purpose‑built to deliver real efficiency for law firms. He warned that firms face daily pressures around productivity, risk, cybersecurity, and burnout, and that AI can...
Bundledocs Unveils Bundledocs Review Collaboration Platform
Bundledocs announced Bundledocs Review, a real‑time collaboration layer built into its cloud‑based document bundling platform for legal teams. The new solution adds secure shared workspaces, granular permission controls, live commenting, annotation and a full audit trail, eliminating the need for...
Arctic Intelligence, BitCompli Team up on Digital Asset Risk Tools
Arctic Intelligence and BitCompli announced a strategic partnership to deliver enterprise‑wide risk assessments for digital‑asset firms worldwide. The collaboration combines Arctic’s Arctic Accelerate platform with BitCompli’s regulatory expertise to meet tightening rules such as the UK FCA, EU MiCA, and...
Hogan Lovells Partners with LawFairy to Offer Pro Bono Support for Undocumented Children in the UK
Law firms Hogan Lovells and LawFairy have launched a technology initiative to provide pro‑bono immigration support for undocumented children in the UK. The decision‑support platform, built with Central England Law Centre, screens eligibility for British nationality and triages cases for...
The New Leaders of Law
The UK legal market is undergoing a structural transformation driven by digital‑savvy leadership and new ownership models. Millennial and Gen Z lawyers now expect digital fluency as a baseline, prompting firms to appoint CEOs, COOs and CIOs who prioritize scalability, compliance...
The Purpose of an ESI Protocol
The California court clarified that an Electronic Stored Information (ESI) protocol is designed to promote reasonable electronic discovery, curb costs, and ensure preservation of relevant data. In Plata v. Lands’ End, the plaintiff sent a draft protocol, the defendant proposed...
AI-Powered Search Is Fueling a Wave of Epstein Files Transparency Projects
The DOJ’s Epstein Files release, mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, provides millions of pages, images, and videos but suffers from rudimentary search functionality. Volunteer engineers and newsrooms have deployed AI‑driven tools—such as Jmail’s Gmail‑style inbox and Google Pinpoint...
Intapp's Celeste AI Aims to Automate Judgment-Heavy Tasks
Intapp unveiled Celeste, an agentic AI platform that leverages a firm’s entire data set to execute complex, judgment‑intensive workflows such as deal screening, conflict clearance, and revenue realization. The system uses firm‑specific "Playbooks" and modular "skills" to codify best‑practice methodologies...
RegTech Firm Vivox AI Secures £1.3m Funding
RegTech startup Vivox AI announced a £1.3 million first‑round funding to scale its compliance‑focused AI platform for banks and other regulated financial institutions. The round attracted high‑profile backers such as former German central bank president Axel Weber, former Google UK MD...
Njordium Vendor Management System Eliminates Duplicate Third-Party Assessments
Njordium Cyber Group unveiled its Vendor Management System (VMS), a platform that consolidates third‑party risk assessments to satisfy Europe’s overlapping regulations in a single run. The solution claims to replace up to five parallel assessments with one, automatically generating outputs...
Only 3% of Compliance Professionals Say Their Organisation Is Fully Prepared for AI Regulation
A VinciWorks survey of 230 compliance, legal and IT professionals reveals that only 3.5% of organisations feel fully prepared for the emerging AI regulatory regime. More than three‑quarters lack effective AI‑specific training, and 63% cannot describe their current preparedness. GDPR...
“The Fire and BPA’s Preservation of Evidence”
The District Court in Oregon held Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) liable for willful spoliation of both physical evidence and electronically stored information after the September 2020 Holiday Farm fire. BPA moved and destroyed trees at the ignition site despite a preservation...
FCA Publishes Webpage on Cryptoasset Firms Use of s.21 Approvers
On 27 February 2026 the FCA launched a dedicated webpage outlining how cryptoasset firms can use Section 21 approvers to validate financial promotions. The guidance distinguishes firms applying for FCA authorisation during the application period, those that do not apply, and...
McMillan–Legora Leaders on Bringing Generative AI Into Daily Legal Practice
McMillan LLP has partnered with Legora to embed the firm’s generative‑AI platform across its Canadian practice. The rollout targets core legal work such as litigation, transactional drafting and contract analysis, with built‑in security and data‑privacy safeguards. Firm leaders discussed how...
Detego Global Achieves ISO 27001:2022 Certification, Reinforcing Commitment To Information Security
Detego Global, a developer of digital forensics and endpoint monitoring solutions, has earned ISO 27001:2022 certification after a 12‑month audit. The certification validates the company’s Information Security Management System across its software, hardware, and support services. It provides independent assurance that...
How NFC Is Transforming AML Compliance
Near Field Communication (NFC) is moving beyond contactless payments to become a core tool in anti‑money‑laundering (AML) and know‑your‑customer (KYC) processes. By reading encrypted chips in e‑passports, ID cards and digital badges, NFC provides instant, tamper‑evident verification of identity data....
FCA Direction on the Relevant Application Period for an Application for a Cryptoasset Permission
The FCA has issued a direction that defines the relevant application period for crypto‑asset permissions under section 55U of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. The window opens at 9:00 am on 30 September 2026 and closes at 11:59 pm on 28 February 2027. The direction clarifies...
Weekly Letter to Our EDRM Global Community – 03 March 2026
The Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) announced it has been named the #1 eDiscovery firm in JD Supra’s 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards, marking its fourth consecutive win. The letter also highlighted HaystackID’s acquisition of eDiscovery AI to accelerate client‑driven generative AI workflows...
Board Accountability in Financial Crime Governance
Regulators are redefining board accountability for financial‑crime governance, demanding that directors move beyond passive review to actively interrogate AML, CTF and PF risk assessments. The risk assessment has shifted from a compliance checklist to a core governance instrument that demonstrates...
How AI Is Rewriting Compliance Governance
AI has moved from back‑office analytics to active participation in financial institutions' daily communications, creating a new class of "aiComms" that fall under regulatory scrutiny. Theta Lake’s latest report shows 99% of firms plan to broaden AI use on unified...
High Risk Education Unveils HRE FinTech Training Hub
High Risk Education has launched the HRE FinTech Training Center, an on-demand platform that translates complex regulatory obligations into practical guidance for fintech teams. The hub offers four learning tracks covering board‑level strategy, management execution, annual employee refreshers, and sponsor‑bank...
ThetaRay and Matrix USA Partner on AI AML Overlay
ThetaRay and Matrix USA have announced a strategic partnership to deliver an AI‑driven AML detection overlay that sits on top of banks' existing rules‑based transaction monitoring systems. The solution combines ThetaRay’s cognitive AI engine and investigation suite with Matrix’s two‑decade...
Legaltech Suppliers Ramp up Partnerships with AI Developers
Anthropic announced new partnerships with legal‑tech providers Intapp and LexisNexis to embed its Claude chatbot directly into their platforms. The Claude legal plug‑in can automate contract reviews, regulatory compliance checks, and multi‑document formatting, promising speed gains likened to moving from...
Monjur Introduces Monjur Pilot AI-Powered Legal Assistant For MSPs
Monjur, a Texas‑based legal‑tech firm, launched Monjur Pilot, an AI‑powered legal assistant designed for managed service providers (MSPs). The solution combines large language models with a retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) framework and a proprietary confidence‑scoring system to answer contract questions, redline...
Illumination Zone: Episode 226 | Greg Moreman of Level Legal Sits Down with Mary Mack and Holley Robinson
Level Legal’s partner Greg Moreman discussed the firm’s AI integration strategy on EDRM’s Illumination Zone podcast. He highlighted the need for defensible, outcome‑driven models and stressed that an expert human must remain in the loop. Moreman advised starting with small...
Lack of Clarity on How Immigration Officials Use Automated Tools Leads Lawyers to Launch Monitoring Org
Immigration lawyers in Canada launched the nonprofit AIMICI after discovering that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been using undisclosed automated decision‑making tools such as the Chinook summarisation system, machine‑learning triage, facial‑recognition and generative AI. The group aims to...
CNIPA Issues Letter on Identity of Foreign Inventors
China's National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) clarified that its new inventor‑information rules, effective Jan. 1 2026, obligate Chinese inventors to provide a national ID but do not require foreign inventors to submit passport or other ID numbers at the filing stage. The...
One Click, 3,800 Contracts: Unison Automates FAR Deviation Mods at Scale
Unison, a federal acquisition software provider, used its bulk modification tool to issue more than 3,800 contract changes for an unnamed agency in a single click. The automation replaced weeks of manual drafting, handling FAR deviation updates required by the...
Legal AI: What Government Agencies Need To Consider
Filevine has released a comprehensive guide titled “Legal AI: What Government Agencies Need To Consider,” aimed at helping public‑sector legal teams navigate the rapidly expanding AI market. The guide outlines how AI can improve government legal workflows, offers a framework...
The Truth About AI False Positive Reduction
AI-driven supervision is now entrenched in financial services, with 94% of firms using or planning AI detection tools. Vendors tout dramatic false‑positive reductions, but Theta Lake warns these claims often rely on misleading accuracy metrics. The underlying base‑rate problem means...
'Game Changing' AI Listing to Help Clear Court Backlog
The UK Ministry of Justice is piloting an AI‑driven case‑listing tool in Preston and Isleworth to help clear the chronic criminal court backlog. A new judicial national listing framework, due before summer, will standardise and increase transparency in how criminal...
Rethinking the Financial Crime Stack in the Age of AI
AI is moving from a bolt‑on feature to the core architecture of financial‑crime compliance, as Flagright CTO Madhu Nadig explains. An AI‑native stack requires a standardized data layer, a decision engine that can act within policy controls, and built‑in governance...
Why Legal AI Tools Need Human Feedback to Succeed
The RegTech market is flooded with legal AI tools that rely heavily on static statutes and generic language models. Zeidler Group warns that these solutions miss the nuanced, practice‑based knowledge that regulators and firms apply daily. By treating its AI...
Investment in UK Legal Tech Soars to Record High, Report Finds
The UK legal‑tech sector secured a record £188.8 million in 2025, a 35% increase over the prior year, according to LawtechUK’s Investment Snapshot. Twenty home‑grown firms raised £42 million in the second half of the year, with an average raise of £2.1 million,...
FWC Targets Meritless Gen-AI Claims with New Filing Rules
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) will soon require all employees and witnesses to disclose any use of generative‑AI in preparing their applications, with false statements subject to imprisonment. Justice Adam Hatcher highlighted AI’s dual role: it can help self‑represented litigants...
This Startup Is Building an All-in-One AI Ecosystem for Nigerian Law Firms
Modulaw AI, a Lagos‑based startup, has launched an all‑in‑one AI‑driven legal operations platform for Nigerian law firms. The system combines a RAG‑powered research engine—trained on roughly 10,000 appellate and Supreme Court judgments—with case management, client collaboration, workflow automation, and billing...
Provider’s Degree of Control Affects DMCA Safe Harbor
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Elliott McGucken’s false copyright‑management‑information claim against Shutterstock, finding the platform’s watermarking and automated CMI removal did not show scienter. However, the court vacated summary judgment on the underlying...
Federal Circuit Upholds Infringement Damages and Validity for Modular Artificial Tree Patent
The Federal Circuit affirmed Willis Electric’s $42.5 million verdict and upheld the validity of claim 15 of its modular artificial‑tree patent. The court rejected Polygroup’s motions, finding the district court correctly admitted the damages expert’s testimony and did not require limiting damages...