Insights Articles

Steven Facer | President, Array UK

The UK has long been one of the most mature and influential legal markets outside the United States. It is home to many global law firms, multinational corporations, and a legal system that frequently sits at the centre of complex international disputes and investigations. From Array's perspective, entering the UK was a natural step in building a truly international eDiscovery capability.

One of the attractions of the UK market is the concentration of high-value, cross-border matters. London remains a global hub for dispute resolution, arbitration, regulatory investigations, and financial services litigation. These matters often involve data located in multiple jurisdictions and require providers who can manage projects that cross legal and geographic boundaries.

Another factor is the sophistication of the UK legal community in adopting technology-enabled approaches to disclosure and investigations. While the UK disclosure regime differs from the US discovery process, law firms and clients here are highly experienced in working with technology-assisted review, advanced analytics, and increasingly AI-driven workflows. That creates a strong environment for innovation.

For Array, acquiring Altlaw provided an opportunity to enter this market with an established team, long-standing client relationships, and deep expertise in UK disclosure practices. Rather than building from scratch, the acquisition allowed Array to combine its North American scale and technology investment with local knowledge and operational experience. The result is a platform that can support clients on both sides of the Atlantic while maintaining the specialist understanding that complex matters require.

The UK eDiscovery market operates under different rules than the US, particularly around disclosure obligations, GDPR compliance, and data sovereignty. How do these regulatory differences affect how you deliver services?

The regulatory framework in the UK and Europe requires eDiscovery providers to take a more nuanced approach to how data is handled, processed, and reviewed.

One of the most significant differences is the impact of GDPR and broader data protection legislation. Personal data must be processed lawfully, proportionately, and securely, which places a strong emphasis on governance and defensibility throughout the discovery workflow. That affects everything from early data collection decisions through to review and production.

Data sovereignty is another important consideration. Clients are increasingly sensitive to where their data is stored and processed, particularly when matters involve personal information or regulated sectors such as financial services or the public sector. As a result, having the ability to host and process data within the UK or appropriate jurisdictions is often a requirement rather than a preference.

The disclosure process itself also shapes how services are delivered. Compared with US discovery, UK disclosure tends to be more targeted and proportionate, guided by the Civil Procedure Rules and developments such as the Disclosure Pilot Scheme. That means a greater emphasis on early case assessment, careful scoping of data sources, and collaboration between legal teams to agree on reasonable approaches to identifying relevant material.

For providers, these differences require strong technical infrastructure, robust compliance processes, and teams that understand the legal framework in which the work is being carried out. It is not simply a technology problem - it is about combining legal understanding, operational discipline, and the right tools to ensure that data is handled appropriately and efficiently.

The eDiscovery market is consolidating, with Array's acquisitions being one example and larger legal technology platforms operating at significant scale. What does this consolidation mean for clients? Do they benefit from providers with greater resources and geographic reach, or do they lose something when independent providers get absorbed into larger organisations?

Consolidation in the eDiscovery market reflects the growing scale and complexity of the matters that clients are dealing with today. Investigations and disputes increasingly involve large volumes of data, compressed timelines, and multiple jurisdictions. Providers with greater scale are often better positioned to invest in technology, infrastructure, security, and specialist expertise that allow them to support those demands effectively. For clients, this can bring significant advantages.

Larger organisations are able to deploy more advanced technologies, maintain robust global infrastructure, and provide consistent service across jurisdictions. This is particularly important for multinational corporations and global law firms who need support on matters that span continents and regulatory frameworks.

At the same time, clients rightly expect providers to retain the responsiveness and personal engagement that has traditionally characterised the best independent eDiscovery firms. Scale alone is not enough - the real differentiator remains the quality of service and the ability to work closely with clients to solve complex problems.

That is something that was very clear during the Array and Altlaw acquisition. Both organisations have always placed a strong emphasis on customer service, and a significant amount of time was spent ensuring that we were aligned on that philosophy. For us, providing exceptional client service in an agile and responsive way, regardless of the size or global reach of the organisation, is fundamental to how we operate.

Array's approach is to combine the advantages of global scale with a service model that remains highly client-focused. Clients benefit from enterprise-level technology, international coverage, and deep operational resources, while still working with experienced teams who understand their matters and respond quickly when challenges arise.

Ultimately, consolidation should enhance the client experience rather than dilute it. When done well, it enables providers to invest more in innovation, strengthen security and infrastructure, and support increasingly complex global matters, while maintaining the agile, responsive service that clients rely on. At Array, that balance between scale and service is a central part of our philosophy.