eDiscovery 101: Protecting Data with Legal Holds

Data is everywhere: emails, chat apps, cloud storage, collaboration platforms, and even video meetings. For legal teams, this creates both opportunity and risk. When litigation or regulatory inquiries arise, all of this data may serve as electronically stored information (ESI) that legal teams must identify, preserve, collect, and review.

This process is known as eDiscovery (electronic discovery). It is the backbone of modern litigation and compliance work, ensuring that relevant evidence is available, defensible, and admissible.

What Is eDiscovery?

At its core, eDiscovery is the process of identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing ESI in response to legal or regulatory matters.

The process is often described through the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), which includes:

1. Identification – Determining relevant custodians and data sources
2. Preservation – Protecting data from deletion or alteration
3. Collection – Gathering ESI from multiple sources
4. Processing – Filtering, deduplicating, and organizing data
5. Review – Assessing documents for relevance, privilege, or confidentiality
6. Production – Delivering required data in appropriate formats
7. Presentation – Using data in court or storing it for compliance needs.

Every stage of this process depends on defensibility: the ability to demonstrate that someone handled data correctly and consistently.

But before any review platform opens or a production deadline comes, there is an important first step: the legal hold.

The Connection Between eDiscovery and Legal Holds

So where do legal holds fit in?

Legal holds are the gateway to eDiscovery. When an organization expects litigation or an investigation, it must issue a legal hold. This hold is essentially a freeze order for systems, data sources, and custodians – employees or third parties that may have important data — to stop deleting anything related to the case and pause normal data cleanup until the matter is resolved.

Think of it like this:

• Legal hold is putting the evidence in a “do not touch” box
• eDiscovery is opening that box later, sorting through what’s inside, and deciding what needs to go to court

Without a legal hold, the entire eDiscovery process is at risk. If someone deletes important data during regular business operations or retention schedules, courts may impose penalties. They might also question the trustworthiness of the organization’s case.

Thus, in many ways, the strength of an organization’s eDiscovery process can be measured by the effectiveness of its legal hold practices. A good legal hold will ensure:

• Preservation of evidence – Preventing deletion, overwriting, or alteration
• Custodian clarity – Making sure those who hold relevant data know their obligations
• Auditability – Creating a record that the organization acted promptly and appropriately
• Risk reduction – Avoiding spoliation claims and costly sanctions

Common Challenges and Trends Shaping eDiscovery and Legal Holds

As data environments grow more complex and legal expectations rise, organizations face mounting pressure to make their legal hold processes defensible, scalable, and efficient. Both long-standing challenges and emerging trends illustrate why best practices and modern technology are now essential.

Common Challenges Legal Teams Face

Legal and compliance teams frequently run into the same obstacles, including:

These recurring challenges underscore the importance of the right approach. Without standardized workflows and reliable technology, even the most diligent teams risk gaps in compliance or unnecessary exposure.

Emerging Trends Reshaping the Landscape

At the same time, the landscape is shifting in ways that make legacy approaches unsustainable:

• New data types: Beyond email, holds must now cover chat, collaboration platforms, and ephemeral messaging
• Automation and AI: Advanced tools are helping teams issue, track, and manage holds more efficiently
• Cross-border challenges: As businesses expand globally, preservation must align with data privacy laws
• Resource pressures: Legal ops teams are expected to do more with fewer resources, making automation critical

Taken together, these challenges and trends point to an apparent reality: defensible, well-managed legal holds are no longer optional. They require a thoughtful mix of best practices and modern tools to ensure compliance, reduce risk, and empower legal teams to work more efficiently.

Best Practices for Integrating Legal Holds Into eDiscovery

When these practices are followed, legal holds serve as a reliable foundation for the rest of the eDiscovery lifecycle:

• Act quickly when a trigger arises: Litigation or regulatory requests should prompt immediate preservation
• Issue clear and consistent hold notices: Write notices in plain language that custodians can understand
• Track acknowledgements: Keep records of who has received, read, and confirmed the hold
• Send reminders and updates: Keep custodians engaged until the hold is formally released
• Document everything: Audit trails prove defensibility and protect against challenges in court
• Release holds promptly: Over-preservation creates unnecessary storage costs and risks

Building a Strong Foundation for eDiscovery

eDiscovery is more than just managing documents – it’s about building trust in the integrity of digital evidence. And at the heart of that integrity lies the legal hold.

By viewing legal holds as a key part of eDiscovery, organizations can lower risk, improve operations, and ensure compliance.

For teams seeking to strengthen this foundation, the Mitratech Legal Hold solution provides the tools to automate, track, and defensibly manage the entire process – helping organizations protect data, preserve credibility, and meet their eDiscovery obligations with confidence.