Interested in training for your team? Click here to learn more

Litigation Holds: Creating Effective Notices, Implementing Efficient Collection Processes, Protecting Privilege

Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Conducted on Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Recorded event now available

or call 1-800-926-7926

This CLE course will discuss why practitioners must revise and update outdated litigation hold notices, policies, and implementation procedures, as well as best practices for doing so. The program will offer suggested language for notices and recommendations for preserving, collecting, reviewing, and producing new and emerging media. The panel will also review when litigation hold communications and practices are discoverable and best strategies for maintaining confidentiality.

Description

Many lawyers take for granted that their litigation hold notices are sufficient even if they were created perhaps decades ago and only updated occasionally by adding another type of "medium" to the document definition. Many notices are too vague for non-lawyers to understand fully and not tailored to the specific matter at hand. Likewise, attorneys' litigation hold strategies and practices should be reviewed and updated to address how to preserve, collect, and produce--in an efficient way--ever-increasing "disappearing" messaging and video conferencing.

Even when notices are adequate, new case law indicates that the duty to preserve may continue after litigation, and disputes over the discoverability of litigation hold communications and strategies are more frequent. Privileges and work product protection are at risk when spoliation is alleged, but the level of evidence needed to pierce the protections varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Although the federal rules require only that conservation efforts be reasonable, many questions remain when information and data are in the hands of related entities or even third parties. While it is the client who may make missteps that result in motions
for sanctions, it is often the attorneys who take the brunt of the blame.

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.

READ MORE

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 should in-house and outside counsel do to mitigate the likelihood of facing spoliation allegations?
  • What defense theories exist to combat spoliation allegations?
  • What policies should be effectuated to lessen or avoid potential penalties in a finding of spoliation?
  • What strategies and policies will best protect privilege and work product status?

Faculty

Felser, Andrew
Andrew J. Felser

Shareholder
Glade Voogt Lopez Smith

Mr. Felser has handled hundreds of court appearances, depositions and trials in state and federal courts over a 37 year...  |  Read More

Lavenue, Lionel
Lionel M. Lavenue

Partner
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner

Mr. Lavenue’s practice focuses on patent trial litigation, including 19 bench or jury trials, and on creating and...  |  Read More

Main, Chad
Chad Main

Founder
Percipient

Mr. Main is an attorney and the founder of Percipient. Prior to founding Percipient, he worked as a litigator in Los...  |  Read More

Access Anytime, Anywhere

Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

To find out which recorded format will provide the best CLE option, select your state:

CLE On-Demand Video

Download