6 Steps to Implementing a Legal Hold

Companies must ensure they are in total compliance with data preservation requirements—and with the growing amounts of ESI generated, it is increasingly common for litigation to require access to evidence stored digitally. So what can legal teams do to ensure that crucial data is placed on legal hold and not disposed of?

When it comes to compliance, those working within heavily regulated industries are well accustomed to the constant introduction and updating of new legal rulings. Thankfully, technology keeps evolving in support of businesses to help make meeting these requirements an achievable and even streamlined process.

Modern enterprise necessitates the control of huge amounts of data. From creation through to storage and finally, safe disposal, information governance is the process of applying set rules and procedures to ensure the responsible management of this data.

Jean-Pierre LeBlanc, a tech-industry veteran with extensive experience in driving products from vision to market delivery, has joined Pagefreezer as Chief Technology Officer. 

Traditional discovery is the initial phase of litigation when all parties are required to provide records and evidence relevant to a specific case. However, thanks to the explosion of electronically stored information (ESI), discovery must now work alongside eDiscovery—a process that involves the identification, preservation, collection, retention, and review of data in an electronic format. This makes the discovery exponentially larger and more complex.

There’s little doubt that team collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams can streamline and simplify communication in a healthcare environment. With the ability to share files, have direct conversations, and even create dedicated channels for individual patients, these tools offer an easy way for different departments to share crucial information. 

Team collaboration tools are here to stay – and we can reasonably expect their use to increase for years to come. Whether seeking smoother project management or better communication, companies can now choose from an ever-expanding range of platform options.

Chain of custody, in a legal context, can refer to both physical and electronic evidence. With the huge increase in the leverage of the latter within litigation cases, today, chain of custody is a key requirement of any eDiscovery process.

Organizations are embracing team collaboration tools at a rapid rate. However, the massive volumes of scattered data these platforms create can cause compliance issues that have the potential to spiral out of control. The smart solution? An enterprise-grade archiving solution that can help organizations collect, store, and monitor their collaboration data.

Unlike some other eDiscovery processes, a legal hold reaches far beyond your legal department and can potentially impact personnel across your whole business.