Product and intended use
Define the configuration, people, information and tasks being assessed.
Whether the product is currently offered in Australia
Not confirmed
The dedicated Australian product page at https://www.epiqglobal.com/en-au/services/court-reporting/epiqfast returned "Page Not Found" when fetched on 2026-09-27, and Epiq's Australian court reporting page, read the same day, offers "Access live transcripts with speech-to-text for immediate collaboration" without naming EpiqFAST anywhere. Against that, Epiq's United Kingdom court reporting page names the product in the equivalent sentence ("Access live transcripts with EpiqFast for immediate collaboration") according to a search result, and a 2023 trade interview with an Epiq executive describes the product; neither of those was read as a full page in this pass. The product's existence as a currently offered Australian product is therefore not established from Epiq's own current Australian material.
Ask: Is EpiqFAST currently offered to Australian courts and firms, under what name, and where does Epiq publish its current description? The Australian page for it returns Page Not Found.
What the product does
Public claim only
The description of the mechanism comes from a 2023 Australasian Lawyer interview with an Epiq executive, in which EpiqFAST is described as "a fully automated speech-to-text programme, which produces transcripts in a live environment" that "operates by setting up a range of microphones across the court, and establishing speech recognition for every speaker", with speaker identification and cross-talk named as the design problems. Epiq's own Australian court reporting page, read 2026-09-27, offers live transcripts with speech-to-text and refers to "AI-assisted technologies" and "AI-enabled technology" without naming a product or describing any component. Because the vendor's own product page could not be reached, the mechanism rests on third-party reporting of a vendor statement made in April 2023.
Ask: Provide Epiq's current written description of EpiqFAST: what it outputs, what identifies and attributes speakers, whether output is a draft or a certified transcript, and what a human transcriber does before it is relied upon.
Deployment model
Not confirmed
Nothing read states how EpiqFAST is delivered. The 2023 trade interview describes microphones installed across a courtroom, and Epiq's Australian court reporting page offers contract-based services including equipment installation and support for public sector courts, so the product involves on-site hardware; the Epiq Global Terms of Service cover Software-as-Services products accessed through Epiq Access and other online platforms, but nothing read says EpiqFAST is one of them. Whether recognition runs on equipment in the courtroom or in a hosted service, and which document governs it, is unverified; the classification recorded here reflects Epiq delivering it as a service rather than licensing software.
Ask: Is EpiqFAST delivered as a hosted service, as software on court-installed equipment, or both, and which agreement governs it, the Epiq Global Terms of Service or a master services agreement for court reporting?
Jurisdictions served
Public claim only
Epiq's Australian court reporting page (read 2026-09-27) states compliance with government purchase programmes in Asia, Australia and the UK, 70 contracts across global jurisdictions, and service to more than 500 courts per day globally, but names no court, jurisdiction or Australian installation. The 2023 trade interview states EpiqFAST "is already being installed in a series of courtrooms across Asia, and is expected to be used in similar environments across Australia and Europe", which was future tense as to Australia at that date. No current Australian court deployment is established by anything read.
Ask: In which Australian courts or tribunals is EpiqFAST in use today, and for which of them is the automated output part of the official record?
Vendor content directing how AI describes the product
Not confirmed
No page or block telling AI models, assistants or crawlers how to describe the product was found on the four Epiq pages read on 2026-09-27 (the Australian court reporting page, the Epiq Global Terms of Service, the Data Protection Schedule and the Australian privacy policy) or in the site map made in the earlier research pass. No /llms.txt or equivalent URL was fetched. Epiq publishes a Responsible AI page at /en-au/about-us/epiq-responsible-ai, which was not read and which is a policy statement rather than content directing how AI should describe the product.
Ask: Does Epiq publish any page or embedded block instructing AI assistants or crawlers how to describe its products, and what does the Responsible AI page commit to for automated transcription?
Data, controls and requirements
Compare the actual configuration with firm, client and jurisdiction requirements, supported by evidence.
Client authority and whose data it is
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule (read 2026-09-27) makes the client the data controller and Epiq the processor, and requires the client to warrant that it is lawfully able to transfer the personal data, that it holds all necessary consents including a written Data Subject Consent from each necessary person, and that transferring collected data out of the jurisdiction where it is located to any jurisdiction where the Services will be performed is permissible. The Terms of Service put the accuracy, quality and legality of Customer Data, and all necessary rights and consents, on the customer, and state Epiq is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. In a courtroom setting the persons whose speech is captured are not the contracting party, and nothing read addresses that.
Ask: For a hearing recorded with EpiqFAST, who is the controller of the participants' voice data, what notice is given to the persons whose speech is captured, and how is the consent warranty satisfied for witnesses and members of the public?
Recognition model and model providers
Not confirmed
No model, model family, engine or foundation-model provider is named for EpiqFAST in anything read. Epiq's Australian court reporting page refers only to AI-assisted and AI-enabled technology, and the 2023 trade interview's reference to audio data gathered by large technology companies is a general observation about where speech-recognition quality has come from, not a statement that EpiqFAST runs on a named provider's models. Epiq separately markets an Epiq AI product range and an Epiq MCP offering, neither of which is stated anywhere read to be part of EpiqFAST.
Ask: Name the speech recognition engine and any foundation-model provider used by EpiqFAST, the legal entity operating each, and the country in which inference runs for an Australian hearing.
Subprocessors
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule (read 2026-09-27) requires Epiq not to "subcontract any processing of the personal data or otherwise disclose the personal data to any third party except as expressly permitted by this Agreement or otherwise permitted by Client in writing", which is a written-permission model rather than a published register. The Australian privacy policy lists categories of service providers (third-party developers and support, payment processors, IT and security providers, customer support vendors, email and communication providers) without naming any. No subprocessor list is published anywhere on the pages read, and no register URL appears in the terms, the schedule or the privacy policy.
Ask: Provide the current list of subprocessors that would touch our hearing audio and transcripts, with each entity, its country and its function, and confirm the written-permission requirement applies to every one of them.
Training on customer content
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule (read 2026-09-27) contains a Generative AI Tools clause stating that where Epiq provides Services using systems that generate new natural-language content from Client Data, "Epiq may use Client Data solely to fine-tune or adapt such Generative AI tools for the limited purpose of improving outputs specific to Client's environment and requirements." EpiqFAST is described as automatic speech recognition rather than a generative tool, and nothing read says whether hearing audio or transcripts may be used to adapt acoustic or language models, so the clause's application to this product is not established. Separately, the Terms of Service permit Epiq to use Customer Data to "provide, maintain, support, and improve the Services for you" and to use anonymised aggregated Usage Data for its own business purposes including improving Services.
Ask: Is EpiqFAST a Generative AI Tool for the purposes of clause 1.9 of the Data Protection Schedule, and may hearing audio, transcripts or corrections be used to train, tune or adapt any recognition model, including one confined to our own environment?
Feedback and corrections
Public claim only
The Epiq Global Terms of Service (15 June 2026) state that if the customer provides suggestions or feedback, it grants Epiq "a free, worldwide, perpetual license to use it in its products and services", and that Epiq owns all rights in Usage Data, defined as technical data about Service usage aggregated and de-identified so that it does not identify the customer or any individual. The terms also prohibit the customer from publishing evaluation or benchmarking results without Epiq's prior written consent, and from using outputs to train competing models. Nothing read states whether transcript corrections made by a court transcriber are treated as feedback.
Ask: Are corrections made to an EpiqFAST transcript treated as feedback under the Terms of Service, and can we exclude them and our usage telemetry from any product improvement?
Retention
Public claim only
The Terms of Service (15 June 2026) allow a Customer Data export request within 30 days after termination or expiry of paid Services, after which Epiq may delete Customer Data, and state Epiq is not required to retain Trial Services data after the trial period. The Australian privacy policy (effective 15 June 2026) retains personal data only for as long as necessary, judged against the nature and sensitivity of the data, the risk of harm, the purposes of processing and applicable legal or contract requirements. No retention period is published for hearing audio, live transcript drafts or final transcripts, and the Data Protection Schedule leaves retention to the client's instruction on termination.
Ask: State the default retention period for hearing audio, draft live transcripts and final transcripts under an Australian court reporting contract, and whether we can set a shorter one.
Deletion and certified erasure
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule (read 2026-09-27) requires Epiq, on termination of the agreement for any reason and at the client's instruction and expense, to return all personal data and all copies to the client, transfer them to a third party the client designates, retain them for a fee, or, if the client gives no instruction, destroy all copies and "certify to Client that it has done so", unless Epiq is prevented from destroying or returning the data by its national law, internal policies or a local regulator, in which case the data is kept confidential and not actively processed. The Terms of Service separately permit deletion after the 30-day export window.
Ask: Which national law, internal policy or regulator would prevent destruction of Australian hearing audio or transcripts, and what form does the destruction certificate take?
Vendor access to content
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule requires Epiq to take reasonable steps to ensure the reliability of any staff, agents or contractors who will have access to personal data and to bind them contractually to confidentiality, to process personal data only on the client's documented instructions, and to maintain a record of processing activities that it must make available to the client within 48 hours of a request. It also gives the client the right, no more than once a year on at least 30 days' written notice and during business hours, to have a representative inspect relevant premises where the Services are provided and the measures adopted. Epiq's court reporting service is staffed by transcribers and editors, who are described on the Australian page as working alongside the technology, so human access to hearing content is part of the service rather than an exception.
Ask: Which Epiq personnel and contractors can access our hearing audio and transcripts, from which countries, and will you provide the record of processing activities and accept an on-site audit in Australia?
Access control and credentials
Public claim only
The Terms of Service (15 June 2026) make the customer responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of user credentials, for its Authorized Users' compliance and actions, and for preventing unauthorised access and notifying Epiq immediately if it occurs; access is granted per Authorized User for whom a licence has been purchased. The Data Protection Schedule requires appropriate technical and organisational measures to a level of security appropriate to the risk. No single sign-on, multi-factor authentication requirement, role model or exportable audit log is described in anything read, and the security page at /en-au/about-us/data-security was not read.
Ask: Does EpiqFAST or the platform that holds its transcripts support single sign-on and enforced multi-factor authentication, what roles exist, and can we export an access log showing who opened a hearing transcript?
Encryption
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule (read 2026-09-27) states that no Client Data may be transferred to Epiq "via email, through a third-party tool, or in any other unencrypted or unsecured manner", and requires appropriate technical and organisational measures under Article 32 of the GDPR or equivalent. The Terms of Service commit only to "commercially reasonable safeguards" and refer the reader to a security page, and the Australian privacy policy says measures are "designed to secure your personal information". No algorithm, TLS version, key-management description or customer-managed key option appears in anything read; the security page was not read.
Ask: Confirm the encryption applied to courtroom audio in transit and at rest, including any on-premises courtroom equipment and backups, and who holds the keys.
Independent assurance
Public claim only
Epiq's Australian court reporting page (read 2026-09-27) states "ISO 9001:2015 certified", which is a quality-management standard rather than an information-security certification, and names no certification body, certificate number or scope. No SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, IRAP or penetration-test report is claimed in anything read, and no trust centre was found. Epiq publishes a security page at /en-au/about-us/data-security and a compliance page, neither of which was read.
Ask: Provide the current information-security assurance reports covering EpiqFAST and the systems holding its transcripts, with scope, auditor and exceptions, and the ISO 9001 certificate with its scope and certifying body.
Contract, DPA, liability and forum
Public claim only
The Epiq Global Terms of Service (last updated 15 June 2026), served from the Australian site, govern Software-as-Services products provided by "Epiq eDiscovery Solutions, Inc. and/or its affiliates", incorporate the SLA, privacy policy and any applicable DPA, are governed by Delaware law, and require binding arbitration in Kansas City, Missouri under AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules. Aggregate liability for paid Services is capped at amounts paid in the 12 months before the claim, with a US$100 cap for Trial Services, and indirect and consequential damages are excluded. A separate executed master services agreement takes precedence for the services it covers, so a court reporting contract may not be governed by these terms at all; no Australian contracting entity, ACN or ABN appears anywhere read.
Ask: Which Epiq entity contracts with an Australian court or firm for EpiqFAST, what is its ACN or ABN, and will the governing law, the Kansas City arbitration clause and the 12-month liability cap be replaced with Australian law and forum?
Cross-border transfers and APP 8
Not confirmed
The Terms of Service state that if Customer Data is processed outside the customer's or Epiq's primary location "the parties may agree to use standard contractual clauses or other approved mechanisms", which is permissive rather than a commitment. The Data Protection Schedule provides that where Client Data may be processed outside the EEA and the United States the parties "may enter into the SCCs", and requires the client to warrant that transferring collected data out of the jurisdiction where it sits to any jurisdiction where the Services will be performed is permissible. The schedule's definition of Data Protection Laws names European, UK and California law and then "to the extent applicable, all other laws"; neither it nor the Australian privacy policy mentions the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles or APP 8, and no hosting country is named anywhere read.
Ask: In which countries would Australian hearing audio, transcripts, backups, support access and any model inference occur, and will you contract to keep all of them in Australia?
Incident notification
Public claim only
The Data Protection Schedule requires Epiq to inform the client "without undue delay" if it becomes aware of accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss, alteration, or unauthorised disclosure of or access to the personal data, to provide reasonable assistance in investigating and mitigating the impact, and to assist with notifications to data protection authorities and affected data subjects. No fixed period in hours or days is stated, the Australian Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and the OAIC are not mentioned, and no incident history is published in anything read. The Terms of Service require the customer to notify Epiq immediately of unauthorised access.
Ask: State a notification period in hours from discovery for our contract, confirm cooperation with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and the OAIC, and disclose any material incident in the last 24 months affecting court reporting services.
Change control
Public claim only
The Epiq Global Terms of Service (15 June 2026) state that modifications require a written agreement signed by both parties, and set a conflict order of Order Form, Terms of Service, DPA, SLA, Documentation. The Australian privacy policy states it may be updated from time to time and that updates are shown by revising the effective date, with no notice to customers. Nothing read commits Epiq to notify a customer before changing the recognition engine, a subprocessor or the country of processing.
Ask: What written notice will we receive before the EpiqFAST recognition engine, a subprocessor or the processing location changes, and can we object?
Export and exit
Public claim only
The Terms of Service (15 June 2026) provide that for paid Services the customer may request a Customer Data export within 30 days after termination or expiry, after which Epiq may delete the data, and that paid terms renew automatically unless either party gives 60 days' notice of non-renewal. The Data Protection Schedule gives the client, on termination, the choice of return, transfer to a nominated third party, retention for a fee, or certified destruction, at the client's expense. No export format is specified for hearing audio or transcripts, and the schedule also states the client is solely responsible for maintaining the Original Data such that it can be promptly regenerated.
Ask: In what formats will hearing audio, time-synchronised transcripts and any speaker metadata be returned on exit, at what cost, and within what period?
Connectors and integrations
Not confirmed
No integration, API or connector for EpiqFAST is described in anything read. Epiq markets adjacent products on the same Australian navigation, including Epiq Narrate for electronic bundles, Epiq Discover, the Epiq Service Cloud and an Epiq MCP offering, and the Terms of Service refer to Services accessed via Epiq Access and other online platforms, but nothing read links EpiqFAST to any of them. Whether a live transcript feed can be delivered to a court's case management system or to parties' own systems is unverified.
Ask: Can an EpiqFAST live transcript be delivered to a court's case management system, a transcript platform or a party's own system, by what interface, and what data leaves the courtroom in the process?
Open-web retrieval
Not confirmed
Nothing read describes EpiqFAST retrieving anything from the open web; it is described as converting courtroom speech to text. No vendor statement confirming that it does not reach the open web was found either, so the absence of the capability rests on silence in the material read rather than on a published statement.
Ask: Confirm in writing that EpiqFAST makes no outbound request other than to the recognition service, and that no hearing content is sent to any public search or web service.
Automated actions
Not confirmed
Nothing read describes EpiqFAST taking any action beyond producing text; the 2023 trade interview describes transcript production, and Epiq's Australian page describes transcript management and evidence presentation as separate services. The Terms of Service prohibit certain uses of AI features and put verification of outputs on the customer, but describe no agentic behaviour. Whether the product tags, distributes or publishes a transcript automatically is unverified.
Ask: Does EpiqFAST automatically distribute, publish or file a transcript, or write to any court record system, and can each of those be turned off?
Human review before use
Public claim only
The Epiq Global Terms of Service (15 June 2026) state that AI feature outputs are provided "AS IS" without accuracy warranty and that "you are solely responsible for verifying them". The Data Protection Schedule's Generative AI Tools clause states outputs are preliminary, are "not tested, verified, endorsed or guaranteed to be accurate, complete or current by Epiq", and that the client "has the ultimate responsibility of verifying all outputs produced". The 2023 trade interview records the Epiq executive saying a transcript for use in a higher court still needs a human check. No product control that enforces review before a transcript is used is described in anything read.
Ask: What in the product or the service enforces human review of an EpiqFAST transcript before it is distributed or relied on, and who signs off?
