legalhold

A legal hold, also known as a litigation hold or preservation order, is a directive issued by a organization’s legal team to preserve all relevant information when litigation, regulatory investigation, or similar proceedings are reasonably anticipated. The hold requires that no data or documents be destroyed, deleted, or altered in a way that would impede the discovery or investigation process. It typically covers electronically stored information as well as physical records and may apply to employees, contractors, and other custodians.

A legal hold identifies the scope of preservation, including the custodians, data sources, and the time frame of potential relevance. It may specify the types of data to preserve, such as emails, databases, documents, chat records, and backups, and may require preservation of metadata and version histories. The directive is an internal directive, distinct from a court order, though it can be prompted by or coordinated with legal proceedings and, in some contexts, by regulatory requirements.

Implementation and governance involve issuing a formal hold notice, communicating responsibilities to affected personnel, and establishing monitoring and compliance processes. The hold is typically managed by the legal department with support from IT, records management, and compliance teams. It remains in effect until the matter is resolved or the hold is legally released, at which point normal deletion policies can resume.

Risks include potential sanctions for spoliation and the costs of preserving large volumes of data. Properly managed holds balance the need to preserve evidence with concerns about privacy, data protection, and business disruption.