Financial Institutions Litigation and Regulation Tips
Read these 6 Financial Institutions Litigation and Regulation Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Legal Jobs tips and hundreds of other topics.
Legal Process Outsourcing Companies
Legal process outsourcing companies provide experienced, temporary attorneys to help with all manner of litigation preparation, and are especially useful for cases with copious amounts of discovery.
Discovery must be reviewed prior to sending it to opposing counsel for confidentiality issues, particularly attorney-client privilege documents. Documents may be electronic (such as email), hard copy documents, or facsimile documents. Other confidentiality issues may also arise, preventing documentation to be provided as discovery.
Incoming documents, responses to interrogatories, and answers to requests for admissions (all part of the discovery process) must also be reviewed for content. Temporary attorneys who are trained to review documents in an expeditious manner save a firm countless hours of document review. During the hours saved, the attorney on the case has time to see other clients or to work on the current client's matter, thus saving time and money for the firm and its clients.
Financial Rules and Regulations
Though each state has some financial rules and regulations, the main set of regulations that financial institutions must abide by is located in chapter 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Should a financial institution find itself in a lawsuit because of a breach of a financial rule or regulation, depending on the type of regulation broken, it must participate in the litigation. Part of the litigation, whether the matter settles or goes to trial, is the discovery phase of litigation. Once a complaint and counter complaint are filed, and sometimes before a counter complaint is filed, the parties involved must participate in the discovery process.
Discovery is exchanged between the attorneys, and can be extensive. Documents in the form of paper and/or electronic documents are exchanged. Prior to sending to opposing counsel, this documentation must be reviewed for attorney-client privileged documents or documents falling under other confidentiality laws. An experienced, temporary document review attorney can be retained to review documents for confidentiality issues, thus saving a firm countless hours (time and money) in reviewing documents.
Financial Institution Regulations
Financial institutions are bound by certain federal regulations. The regulations are found in Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations. There are several regulations that financial institutions must follow, including credit issues, disclosure issues, reserve requirements, regulations for electronic transfers, and the issuance and cancellation of federal reserve bank stock, to name a few.
If a financial institution does not abide by the financial institution regulations contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, and any other state regulations that may be in place, the injured party may sue the financial institution. If it is found that the financial institution's breach of the regulations injured many people, a class action lawsuit may be instituted against the financial institution.
Lawsuits against financial institutions because of a breach of regulations often result in copious documents, whether paper or electronic, being exchanged in the discovery process. Documents must be reviewed for attorney-client privilege or other confidentiality issues prior to being sent to opposing counsel. Once documents are received by counsel, the documents must also be reviewed for content. Retaining an experienced temporary attorney to review documents (incoming and outgoing) during the discovery process is more cost effective to the firm than having one of the firm's attorneys review the documents.
Finance Litigation
The passing of the new credit card ruling may lend to more finance litigation should credit card companies and banks inadvertently raise interest rates without good cause. Litigation may be started by one individual, or it may result in a class action lawsuit.
Documentation exchanged by the parties involved, especially in a class action lawsuit, can be extensive. All documentation must be reviewed before it is forwarded to opposing counsel. All documentation received by counsel must also be reviewed. If the documentation is extensive, retaining extra staff (attorneys) may be more cost effective than having the lead attorney review the documents. Staffing agencies provide experienced document review attorneys to review paper or electronic documents for content to ensure the document is discoverable.
If a document falls under attorney-client privilege or other confidentiality rules, it may not be discoverable. Trained document review attorneys separate documents that are not discoverable, so the documents are not provided to opposing counsel.
Should My Firm Retain a Litigation Support Consultant?
A litigation support consultant provides firms, from small to large, with additional help during extensive financial institution litigation and regulation discovery requests. The litigation support consultant provides the extra help needed to sort through and review discovery prior to sending it to the opposing counsel. The support consultant reviews documents for content, separating documents that are not discoverable because of attorney-client privilege or other confidentiality laws.
Extensive discovery is completed whether a case goes to trial or settles. Discovery shows either side if there is any foundation for the case at hand, and helps the parties come to a settlement, if possible. If not, the discovery is used in trial to help the court determine a ruling on the matter.
Discovery should be reviewed and bate-stamped as it comes into the office, so that the attorney has more knowledge of the case at hand. A litigation support consultant that reviews the discovery summarizes the information for the lead attorney on the case.
Legal Staffing Jobs
Financial institutions sometimes enter into litigation over regulations that control their operation. Sometimes, noncompliance with these regulations (even accidental noncompliance) causes lawsuits. These lawsuits are usually large because of the number of documents involved.
Those performing the document review should have both legal and financial background, whether through schooling or experience. They also must be up to date on the latest regulations and governing rules.
Those performing legal staffing jobs for financial institution litigation will often review, index and otherwise handle all types of documentation, including Word documents, Excel documents, PowerPoint documents, PDF files, HTML files, and image files. Previous experience with these forms of technology is a must. These law professionals should be trained to look for discrepancies in discovery documents and to organize and review disclosure documents.
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