Digital Evidence-Sharing Pacts Could be “Game Changer” – Kathleen Hamann Quoted in Law360

As part of its recent $1.3 trillion spending bill, Congress signed into law The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data, or CLOUD Act. The Act is Congress’s attempt to “help prosecutors access digital evidence on overseas servers.”

There are currently 57 countries that have “mutual legal assistance” treaties with the US, but requests for information stored here could take months to fill, leading to long delays in criminal investigations. The CLOUD Act agreements would allow “cross-border legal requests directly from law enforcement to a service provider,” which would significantly speed up the process.

The CLOUD Act requires DOJ and State Department to “sign off on the country’s commitments to privacy and civil liberties, and then get Congress’s approval.” The country would also need to implement “appropriate procedures to minimize its collection of data on Americans.”

Pierce Atwood partner Kathleen Hamann, who spent nearly 20 years at the DOJ and State Department, said she was struck by the “jarring difference between the unilateral tone in the data-sharing agreement requirements, and the method for providers to quash such requests, which echoes familiar principles of international cooperation. It is such a reach from the principles of reciprocity and comity that underlie all of the previous forms of evidence-sharing across borders.”

Kathleen Hamann is an internationally recognized authority in the field of white collar enforcement and compliance matters. She represents clients in transnational matters, conducts global risk assessments, designs compliance programs, and addresses multijurisdictional investigations that require navigation of conflicting national laws.