BarbriSFCourseDetails

Course Details

This CLE course will offer best practices for drafting clear, up to date, effective litigation hold notices to third parties and to the client's employees; writing compelling responses to notices from others; and implementing an efficient collection and preservation process. The panel will discuss what can trigger preservation obligations before suit is filed, what a defensible preservation process looks like, and strategies to ensure that custodians uphold their obligations.

Faculty

Description

The duty to implement a litigation hold is triggered when a lawsuit or investigation can reasonably be anticipated, not just when a complaint is filed. Rumors and threats pose special problems. Pinpointing when to end a litigation hold can be equally perplexing.

Litigation hold notices and demands issued to opposing parties or to co-parties need to be clear and up to date, covering new categories of data. Overbroad or ambiguous notices can lead to disputes over relevancy and time frame, and this is complicated by overlapping holds, former employees, software changes, unresponsive custodians, and data in the hands of non-U.S. or third parties.

Legal practitioners have the burden of actively managing the process for their client and may bear the consequences of a client misunderstanding. Different issues arise for clients that are routinely in litigation and those for whom it is rare. Although the federal rules require only that conservation efforts be reasonable, counsel must be able to prove this by showing a standard protocol consisting of logical and well thought out steps.

Listen as this experienced panel discusses best practices for bringing the litigation hold notice up to date to cover new and emerging media and instruct clients in the preservation and collection of these new categories of data.

Outline

  1. Preservation triggers and retention policies: mitigating risk without over-preserving
  2. Litigation hold notices: creation, implementation, and oversight
    1. What should be included in a litigation hold notice
    2. Who should send it
    3. Outside counsel
    4. In-house counsel
    5. Company managers
  3. Who should receive it
    1. Related parties
    2. Third parties
    3. Interested parties
  4. Oversight and ensuring continued employee awareness after implementation
  5. Beyond email
  6. Documenting the process
    1. Electronically
    2. Manually
  7. Discoverability of hold processes and notices
    1. Attorney-client privilege
    2. Work product doctrine
    3. Loss of protection

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What complexities must be considered in creating and implementing litigation holds?
  • What types of new media must be addressed?
  • What strategies and policies will best protect privilege and work product status?
  • What does a defensible preservation policy look like?