Preserving Evidence in Employment Litigation: Employer Challenges, Litigation Holds, Mitigating Spoliation Risks
Ongoing Attorney Obligations Beyond Drafting the Initial Hold Notice; Possible Sanctions and Defenses
About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will examine how to preserve evidence in employment litigation in a high-tech world and mitigate the risk of spoliation and the costly sanctions that could result. The panel will examine the duty to preserve evidence under FRCP 37 and counsel's obligation to guide clients through a litigation hold beyond simply drafting the initial hold notice. The panel will also offer best practices for defending against possible sanctions and how to prepare clients for litigation holds by developing effective document management and retention policies.
Description
With technological advances offering seemingly endless numbers of applications and software solutions to assist in the workplace, managing document and information retention to fulfill the duty to preserve in employment litigation has become increasingly complex.
The employer's duty is more challenging than ever given the extensive amount of electronically stored information (ESI) managed by employers, the number of possible information custodians, the use of personal devices by employees to perform their jobs, and the prevalence of social media. ESI often becomes the target of sweeping discovery requests, putting clients' document management and retention policies into question.
In-house and outside counsel are obligated to ensure compliance with preservation and collection requirements beyond the initial drafting of the litigation hold notice. Therefore, it is imperative that counsel become familiar with their clients' information systems, how they manage digital data, and who the key information custodians are to effectively guide clients through their duty to preserve to avoid sanctions. Counsel should also be able to assist clients with establishing effective document management and retention policies to comply with litigation holds.
Listen as our authoritative panel examines the duty to preserve evidence under FRCP 37 with a focus on the challenges surrounding ESI. The panel will discuss when the duty to preserve begins and how to draft and determine the scope of the litigation hold notice. The panel will address counsel's ongoing obligations beyond drafting the hold notice and offer best practices for avoiding and defending against sanctions.
Presented By
Mr. Boling represents domestic and international clients doing business in the US and around the world, especially in the areas of employment law counseling, litigation, compliance, internal investigations, and crisis counseling in emergency situations, including those arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. He counsels clients through all phases of the employment cycle, including hiring, restrictive covenants, disciplinary action, and leave management, and has substantial experience in successfully handling both large-scale reductions in force and high-profile individual employee separations.
Mr. Tripp has represented employers in matters pending before federal and state courts and administrative agencies covering the entire gamut of employment-related claims. His focus is the defense of class and collective action lawsuits under federal and state wage-and-hour laws, and the provision of preventive advice regarding wage law compliance and class action avoidance. Mr. Tripp has defended dozens of putative wage-hour class and collective actions, ranging from “white-collar” misclassification actions to claims brought in behalf of hourly employees seeking to recover unpaid minimum, regular and/or overtime wages, amounts unlawfully deducted from wages, unpaid commissions, and gratuities. He has spoken about wage-and-hour matters to numerous industry and professional associations. Mr. Tripp has also served as a mediator for class and collective action cases and co-teaches a seminar on wage issues at Fordham Law School.
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
-
Date + Time
- event
Wednesday, January 27, 2027
- schedule
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
I. Introduction
A. FRCP 37
B. Employer challenges to preserve evidence in a high-tech world
II. Duty to preserve evidence
A. When is the duty triggered?
B. Counsel's role
C. Possible sanctions for noncompliance
III. Litigation hold notice
A. Scope of information
B. Key recipients
C. Drafting considerations
D. Counsel's ongoing obligations
IV. Sanctions defenses
V. Best practices for creating client document management and retention policies to mitigate risk of spoliation
VI. Key takeaways
The panel will review these and other important considerations:
- What triggers an employer's duty to preserve possible evidence for litigation?
- What types of information fall within the scope of the litigation hold notice? Who should be key recipients of the hold notice?
- What are counsel's ongoing obligations beyond drafting the initial litigation hold to ensure that clients comply with their duty to preserve?
- What are possible sanctions for spoliation of evidence? What are possible defenses?
- How can counsel help clients develop effective document management and retention policies to mitigate the risk of spoliation?
Related Courses
Preserving Evidence in Employment Litigation: Employer Challenges, Litigation Holds, Mitigating Spoliation Risks
Wednesday, January 27, 2027
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
