Crane on Law by James Crane

Every organization needs a litigation hold process that is consistent, defensible, and repeatable. At a minimum, the hold program must:

• Outline a communication protocol between counsel and the corporate client that describes the relevant information to be preserved;
• Maintain a reliable method for capturing and collecting the data;
• Account for all information whether it is active or archived, it location(s), and backup protocols, as well as all of the client’s applications and operating systems; and
• Utilize designated personnel from the legal team and the client’s IT and operations groups to coordinate all discovery efforts and be responsible for supervising communications and enforcement of the litigation hold.

So, those are a few of the steps needed to begin the process. Every company is different, and every litigation hold program must be customized to meet the specific needs of the organization. It is also a good idea to have templates to address the different types of matters faced by the company. For instance, internal investigations will need to be handled with special considerations.