Akerman launches PineWest Data Intelligence to expand e-discovery into data governance and transactions

# What happened Akerman LLP announced the launch of PineWest Data Intelligence, a new data-services division that broadens the firm's long-standing e-discovery capability. The group is designed to help clients manage data needs that extend beyond a single lawsuit — including privacy work, information governance and transaction-related data diligence.

# What PineWest does PineWest brings together legal, technology and project-management professionals to tackle data problems across the information lifecycle. Concrete services identified by Akerman and reporting outlets include:

• Legacy-data remediation: assessing and reducing years of accumulated data that clients struggle to justify keeping.
• Privacy-request handling: collecting, reviewing and producing data in response to consumer or regulatory requests.
• E-discovery: processing, reviewing and producing materials for litigation and investigations.
• Transactional diligence: preparing and organizing data rooms and running document-level diligence across large contract sets.

The division uses analytics and automation tools to scale those services and to surface the highest-value information quickly.

# Leadership and approach

Akerman's chairman and CEO emphasized that clients face ongoing data problems — such as decades of legacy files, waves of privacy requests and oversized data rooms — and that PineWest consolidates the firm's capabilities to make those problems more manageable.

# Why this matters for clients Clients that manage large volumes of data often layer multiple needs on top of each other: regulatory or privacy obligations, litigation holds, mergers and acquisitions due diligence, and internal governance. PineWest offers a single supplier inside a law firm to coordinate those tasks with legal oversight and project-management discipline.

Expected practical effects for clients:

• Fewer handoffs between vendors and outside counsel when a matter spans privacy, litigation and transactional work.
• Faster triage of large data sets through analytics-driven workflows, which can reduce review scope and cost.
• A focus on reducing data exposure through remediation before disputes or compliance events arise.

# Market context Reports and subsequent coverage show other law firms and vendors are similarly repositioning e-discovery skills into broader data services. Akerman's move follows that trend by packaging analytics, technical capacity and legal guidance under one brand. For organizations deciding between law firm–led data services and specialized vendors, PineWest represents an option where the technical work sits alongside direct legal accountability.

# Bottom line