Managing Legal Holds in Today’s Hybrid Workplace

Mitratech’s Lauren Burnside reports that remote and hybrid workplaces are becoming the norm as 82% of Fortune 500 companies embrace flexible work. This new work environment impacts the process of managing legal holds, as remote and hybrid setups complicate traditional legal hold procedures.

With data scattered across cloud platforms, personal devices, and collaboration tools, legal ops professionals must learn new strategies to track and preserve electronically stored information. Missed notices, inconsistent adherence to policies, and a lack of oversight increase the risk of non-compliance. 

Technological legal hold solutions offer features tailored to dispersed workforces. Automated notifications ensure that legal hold communications are delivered and acknowledged promptly, while centralized dashboards give legal teams real-time visibility into the status of the legal hold. Built-in reminders, audit trails, and the ability to scale across multiple devices and platforms all contribute to a more defensible and efficient legal hold process. 

Software alone is not enough, however. Clear policies, consistent training, and secure data usage protocols are essential. This includes specifying secure platforms, discouraging personal device use for work, and working with the Information Technology Department to ensure proper access controls. Automation also plays a key role, tracking custodian changes, integrating legal processes with enterprise systems, and making needed adjustments based on legal hold changes and scope.

Another requirement for successfully managing legal holds is cross-functional collaboration between legal, human resources, IT, and compliance departments. Regular coordination ensures alignment on policies and responsibilities, allowing legal hold efforts to be proactive and cohesive. By combining technology with well-defined strategies and team alignment, legal ops professionals can successfully manage legal holds in flexible work environments.