Texas-based legal services provider Level 2 Legal has opened two new practice areas focused on compliance and privacy amid growing demand from clients to better understand data regulation issues.

The launch will enable the company to provide law firms and corporate counsel with more specialist advice around matters such as GDPR and CCPA compliance, regulatory investigations, privacy impact assessments, and information governance.

Level 2 Legal, which has 95 staff and revenue of $13m, says the stricter regulatory environment in relation to data handling has meant clients have an increased need for help with issues that extend beyond its traditional eDiscovery and litigation offerings.

The company says its clients are also becoming more discontent with the quality of compliance services being offered by the big four accountancy firms.

Joey Seeber, Level 2 Legal’s chief executive officer, said: “More cases, more data, more regulatory and compliance complexity, and more advanced technology—all of these factors put tremendous pressure on legal departments to mitigate risk. Our clients turn to us because we understand the big picture. The varied backgrounds of our attorneys—from engineering to behavioural science to philosophy—give us a unique perspective and enhances our legal expertise.”

The new service offerings will also give privacy and compliance departments access to business unit training, policy and process improvement, and compliance gap analysis and remediation.  

Research published earlier this month by SDL found that legal departments are under increased pressure from growing compliance challenges created by content digitisation and regulatory overload.

Last month, a survey by DLA Piper found that regulators have imposed €114 million of fines for breach of GDPR rules, while a separate survey of Irish companies by McCann FitzGerald and Mazars found that only 8% of respondents believed they were GDPR compliant.

Dallas-headquartered Level 2 Legal’s decision to formally open its compliance and privacy practices comes as law firms continue to ramp up their presence in the Texas triangle, an area that encompasses Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

Last week top 50 US law firm Perkins Coie opened an office in Austin, while Shearman & Sterling hired three corporate partners from Jones Day to help launch its Dallas office—its third in Texas.