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Legal Hold

What is a legal hold in emails?

Emails are crucial in investigations as they contain key communications, evidence, and records for legal, regulatory, or internal inquiries.They help in identifying misconduct, tracking decision-making, and providing timelines of events.

A legal hold, also called a litigation hold, is a process that ensures the preservation of relevant emails when litigation, an investigation, or a regulatory matter is anticipated or ongoing. It prevents the deletion or modification of emails that may serve as evidence.

Key terminologies used in legal hold process

• Triggering event: An event (such as anticipated litigation or regulatory investigation) that initiates the legal hold process and requires email preservation.
• Litigation: The process of resolving disputes through the court system.
• Custodian: An individual who has control over or access to relevant emails that need to be preserved for legal or regulatory purposes.
• Legal hold notice: A communication issued to custodians, informing them of their duty to preserve relevant emails.
• Stakeholders: Key stakeholders in the legal hold process include the legal team, the IT department, custodians, the record management team, the human resources team, and the compliance team, working together to ensure email preservation and compliance.
• Retention policy: A set of guidelines that organizations implement to determine how long emails should be preserved and when they should be deleted.
• Electronically Stored Information (ESI): Digital data subject to preservation, such as emails, its attachments, documents, and databases.
• eDiscovery: The process of identifying, collecting, preserving, and reviewing electronically stored information (ESI) for use in legal proceedings or investigations.

Why is legal hold important?

A legal hold is crucial for the following reasons:

• Ensures legal compliance: It helps organizations meet legal requirements for preserving relevant evidence.
• Prevents penalties and sanctions: By preserving evidence, it avoids legal consequences such as fines, penalties, or adverse court rulings.
• Supports fair legal processes: It guarantees that all relevant information is available for litigation or investigations, promoting fairness.
• Reduces risks: Legal holds mitigate the risk of legal disputes, financial penalties, or reputational damage due to mishandling of evidence.
• Upholds the integrity of justice: It ensures that justice is based on complete and accurate evidence, contributing to fair outcomes in legal matters.
• Supports eDiscovery efforts: A well-executed legal hold ensures the preservation of emails required for effective eDiscovery, reducing the time and effort needed to locate and analyze relevant emails during legal proceedings.

When is a legal hold required for emails?

A legal hold is required whenever there is a reasonable expectation that relevant emails could be needed for litigation, an investigation, or regulatory compliance. Several scenarios can trigger the need for a legal hold, and they may overlap or occur in combination, making it essential to understand when and why a hold must be initiated:

• Litigation is anticipated: When there is a reasonable expectation of a lawsuit or legal dispute.
• Regulatory investigations are initiated: When authorities request information or begin an inquiry.
• Employee or internal disputes arise: In cases of workplace grievances, such as wrongful termination or harassment claims.
• Contractual or compliance obligations exist: When agreements or industry standards mandate email preservation.
• Legal requests are received: In response to formal demands for evidence or records.

These scenarios trigger the duty to preserve information, ensure compliance, and safeguard evidence for legal or regulatory processes.

How does legal hold work in emails?

When a triggering event occurs, such as the anticipation of a lawsuit, it triggers the legal hold process. The legal hold notice is then sent to relevant custodians, those who control or have access to emails that may be relevant to the case. These custodians are informed of their duty to preserve emails and their attachments, if any. The process involves multiple stakeholders working together to ensure the preservation of these emails and avoid any deletion or alteration of evidence.

What are the key steps in the legal hold?

A legal hold process is initiated by a triggering event. The process involves the following key steps to ensure that relevant emails are preserved for potential litigation or investigations:

• Identification of emails to be preserved: Determine which emails, including attachments and metadata, may be relevant to the case.
• Identification of custodians: Identify individuals who possess or has access to the relevant emails.
• Issuance of a legal hold notice: Notify custodians about the legal hold and specify what needs to be preserved.
• Reminder notices: Send reminders to custodians to ensure ongoing compliance and acknowledgment of their preservation obligations.
• Release of legal hold: Inform custodians when the hold is lifted after the legal matter concludes, ensuring no custodians remain on hold unnecessarily.

How long does a legal hold last?

A legal hold lasts as long as necessary to ensure the preservation of relevant emails for litigation, investigations, or regulatory requirements. Its duration depends on the complexity and resolution timeline of the underlying matter.

A real life instance

In 2021, Facebook (now Meta) faced multiple lawsuits related to data privacy violations, particularly concerning the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where user data was improperly accessed and used for political targeting. In response to these lawsuits, Meta's legal team issued legal hold notices to employees and custodians who might have relevant information regarding user data handling, internal communications, and corporate policies.

The legal hold was critical in ensuring that emails, documents, and other forms of data were preserved for discovery purposes in the ongoing litigation. These actions helped Meta maintain compliance with legal requirements and protected the integrity of evidence during the lawsuits.

Legal hold and eDiscovery in emails

Legal hold and eDiscovery are closely related processes in managing emails preservation for legal matters. Legal hold is the first step in the eDiscovery process. It involves preserving relevant emails by notifying custodians to stop routine email deletion or modification when litigation, investigations, or compliance obligations are anticipated. eDiscovery builds on legal hold by identifying, collecting, reviewing, and producing the preserved emails as evidence for legal proceedings.

eDiscovery is a complex process, especially for organizations handling large volumes of emails. Organizations can adopt cloud-based solutions such as Zoho eProtect, which provides comprehensive email archiving, legal hold capabilities, and eDiscovery features. These features provide a comprehensive solution to retain, review, and export emails related to internal, external, or legal investigations. It empowers the organization's legal teams to manage legal holds effectively and conduct thorough investigations.