Professional services firm Deloitte today announced a doubling in size of its Computer Forensic and Electronic Discovery group through a merger with the highly regarded firm Forensic Data®.

Forensic Data® is Australia’s longest serving company specialising in data recovery, data conversion, electronic discovery and computer forensics and is widely acknowledged as an industry leader in its field.

Consulting to the legal, corporate and government sectors Forensic Data® is uniquely positioned as the only Australian company providing professional forensic services, to design and develop proprietary imaging, analytical and recovery software.

The Forensic Data® team, based in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, will join Deloitte’s existing Forensic Technology practice establishing an unrivalled national coverage and depth of expertise.

Deloitte already has the largest independent Forensic practice in Australia with a full time team of 125 people and 17 partners.

Giam Swiegers Deloitte Australia’s CEO said “the merger will create the largest and most experienced forensic technology team of its kind in Asia Pacific and is recognition of the ever increasing demand for a Forensic approach to the collection and processing of electronic information required for legal or regulatory proceedings.

“I am delighted that Forensic Data’s respected founder and CEO Nicholas Adamo will be joining Deloitte as a partner.

“Nicholas established Forensic Data® in 1998 and has over fourteen years experience in the Legal Technology field.  He has given evidence of an expert nature in most Australian jurisdictions and has also been involved with investigations in Papua New Guinea, parts of Asia, as well as providing technical expertise for several major investigations with the ACCC, ASIC and Royal Commissions.

“Nicholas has been actively involved in developing and maintaining practice and procedural methods, including developing a host of different software applications for use in forensic investigations.

“He was also involved in the design, development and implementation of a national standard for data imaging and data conversion of legacy electronic records held by the National Archives of Australia.”

Commenting on the reasons for the merger, Tim Phillipps Deloitte’s Forensic Asia Pacific practice leader, based in Sydney, highlighted the increasing number of class actions, commissions of enquiry and regulatory investigations across the globe.

“We have seen a dramatic increase in demand for technology forensic and electronic discovery support services as regulators and legal firms increasingly rely on the completeness and accuracy of electronic information, such as email, business documents and transaction records related to business activity.

“The merger announced today increases Deloitte’s capacities to respond quickly to urgent Forensic technology matters and to provide services throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific region as required.

“The Forensic Data® team with their specialist knowledge in data recovery, computer forensics, electronic discovery and data conversion will complement Deloitte’s existing practice.”

David Thompson, lead partner of the Deloitte Forensic Technology Group, said the increasing volume and reliance on electronic documents and computerised business systems by organisations has introduced new challenges for the collection and identification of potential evidence required in response to litigation, regulatory compliance obligations or to support internal investigations.

“Our Forensic Technology team specialises in the collection, preservation and processing of large volumes of data electronic data from complex technology systems for the purpose of investigation and forensic analysis in a manner that will ultimately allow reliable evidence to be available for use in legal proceedings, if required.

“Our increasingly sophisticated methodologies can be applied across all industries and issues, whether that be financial crime detection, customer behaviour or supply chain logistics.

“Electronic data collected using normal IT practices and processes has the potential to lack the forensic integrity required for data that may need to be produced in evidence.”