Martin Nikel

Martin Nikel

Director, Thomas Murray

Martin Nikel heads Thomas Murray’s Cyber Risk Advisory eDiscovery and Litigation support practice. He joined from Kroll where, as a leader of the EMEA Litigation Support Team, he was responsible for the delivery of significant disclosure, investigation and regulatory response data exercises across the EMEA region.

Martin has more than 22 years’ experience managing teams and acting as a subject matter expert in processes and technology to enhance the identification, collection, processing, review and production of substantial amounts of data in response to litigation or regulatory requirements. Some highlights include:

  • Kroll Cyber as head of Litigation Support in EMEA, leading a team across four countries in managing large-scale privacy review and notification processes in response to cyber breaches, directing investigations into fraud or as the result of the restructuring and unwind of multiple entities.
  • Deloitte (Switzerland) leading data management and electronic discovery, including provision of an evidence management system to the United Nations in relation to war crimes, placed in multiple financial institutions to assist with, among other things representation to the US DoJ Monitorships, assessing exposure to the Panama Papers and creation of KYC assessment analytics.
  • Consilio LLC, where he was Global Head of eDiscovery Operations managing a team of 70+ individuals across the UK, Europe, India and the USA, delivering eDiscovery services on many high-profile matters globally.
  • Epiq Systems where he headed the UK eDiscovery operations teams (evidence management, processing and litigation support teams) including managing databases with upwards of 1 billion documents.
  • Huron Legal, managing UK operations.
  • Alvarez & Marsal, managing the data requirements of the unwind of Lehman Brothers from 2008 to 2010, developing a data transfer framework between the administrations, assessing data from over 2,800 applications and responding to multiple litigation disclosure requirements.
  • Charles River Associates, where he designed and developed early eDiscovery approaches and software tools, managing a team of digital forensic and eDiscovery professionals, conducting digital forensic investigations and eDiscovery matters in Hong Kong, the US, mainland Europe across many different industries.
  • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he conducted an onsite investigation in Kazakhstan in relation to an oil refinery shutdown, designed and developed the data collection for the global REGNET system for informing tobacco manufacturers about changes in regulation, and participated in mock dawn raids in relation to competition enquires.

Martin is an acknowledged expert in his field, having written eDisclosure statements, expert reports and witness statements for multiple large-scale litigations, including Cabo vs. MGA where the claimant was awarded Indemnity costs. He has also represented clients to regulators in relation to competition inquiries, to audit boards and in arbitration. Many has spoken at multiple conferences on topics including digital forensics, cloud architecture, eDiscovery challenges. Martin is a member of the Global Advisory Counsel for the Electronic Discovery Reference Model.