Legal Holds

A legal hold is the process by which an organization suspends its routine document destruction and preserves files that may be relevant to pending or reasonably anticipated litigation, investigations, or regulatory action. Legal hold software automates this process, typically integrating with HR and directory systems such as Active Directory or Workday to identify relevant custodians, issuing hold notices, and preserving data in place across email, file storage, and collaboration tools such as Microsoft 365 or Slack. Specific capabilities include automated reminders and escalations for custodians who have not acknowledged a hold, integration with IT systems to preserve device-level data, and a time-stamped audit trail documenting when a hold was issued, to whom, and what was communicated, all needed to withstand judicial scrutiny. These tools are often embedded within or tightly integrated with eDiscovery platforms and enterprise legal management systems, since the scope of a legal hold typically maps directly to the custodians and data sources later collected for review.  Generative AI and analytics are increasingly used to narrow the population of preserved documents before formal collection and review begins.