When you need legal hold services

Legal hold services put a preservation duty into practice: the right people get a clear notice, they confirm it, the systems that auto-delete are paused, and someone keeps records that show it all happened. Honeybadger Solutions provides this technical and administrative work as part of our eDiscovery and litigation support practice, with counsel approving every notice and every release.

The duty usually starts before a complaint is filed. A demand letter, a regulator’s inquiry, a departing executive, a threatened claim or an internal investigation can all mean litigation is reasonably anticipated. From that point, routine deletion of email, chat, phone data and cloud files can turn into a sanctions motion.

Many organizations know they need a hold but not where their data lives. That is why we pair hold administration with data mapping and custodian interviews: you cannot preserve what you have not found.

What we deliver

Each service below can be bought on its own or combined. Counsel directs the legal judgments; we run the process and keep the records.

What the rules and the Sedona Conference expect

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e), rewritten in 2015, applies when electronically stored information that should have been preserved is lost because a party failed to take reasonable steps, and it cannot be restored or replaced. If the loss prejudices the other side, the court may order measures no greater than necessary to cure the prejudice. Only on a finding of intent to deprive may it presume the lost data was unfavorable, give an adverse-inference instruction, or dismiss the case or enter default. The 2015 committee note stresses reasonable steps, not perfection, and proportionality.

Rule 26(f)(3)(C) requires the parties’ discovery plan to address preservation of ESI and the form of production. As amended effective December 1, 2025, Rule 26(f)(3)(D) also asks the parties to address the timing and method for privilege logs. Those conversations go better when your team knows its own systems.

The Sedona Conference Commentary on Legal Holds, Second Edition (2019) sets out 12 guidelines. Among them: the duty is triggered by a credible probability of litigation; decisions are judged by what was reasonable at the time; notices should be written clearly, include a way to acknowledge receipt, and be followed by periodic reminders; and holds should be monitored, documented and released when the duty ends.

As background, Zubulake v. UBS Warburg (S.D.N.Y. 2004) is the case most lawyers learned holds from: once litigation is reasonably anticipated, suspend routine deletion, talk to the key players and monitor compliance. Rule 37(e) now controls the sanctions analysis in federal court, but the practical lesson still holds.

Hold step	What good looks like	Who owns it
Trigger decision	Date and reason recorded	Counsel
Custodian list	Named people plus shared and departed accounts	Counsel with our mapping input
Hold notice	Plain language, specific data types, acknowledgment required	Counsel approves; we issue
System holds	Retention and auto-delete paused for in-scope sources	Client IT with our guidance
Reminders and new custodians	On a set schedule, logged	We administer
Release	Written authorization, notice to each custodian	Counsel authorizes; we issue

How an engagement runs

1. Request online. Choose legal hold or eDiscovery on the request form and tell us the matter, the anticipated parties and any deadlines.
2. Scoping with counsel. We confirm who represents the organization, what triggered the hold and which business units are involved.
3. Map the data. We interview key custodians and IT, then deliver a source map showing where relevant data lives and how long each system keeps it.
4. Issue the hold. Counsel approves the notice; we send it, track acknowledgments and escalate non-responders to counsel.
5. Lock down systems. We guide your IT team on mailbox and chat retention holds and flag sources that need a forensic collection instead.
6. Administer and release. Monthly reminders, new custodians and departures are handled on schedule, and releases go out only on counsel’s written authorization.

Authority, consent and legal limits

We work for the organization through its counsel, or for counsel directly. Counsel decides whether a duty to preserve exists, what it covers and when it ends. We do not give legal advice, sign hold notices as the client, or negotiate ESI protocol terms with opposing counsel.

We access only systems the organization owns or controls and has authorized us to reach. A personal phone or personal cloud account belonging to an employee needs that person’s consent, a clear policy or a court order before anyone collects from it. This is general information, not legal advice.

How it is priced

Legal hold services are priced by the unit of work, in words here and in numbers on your written quote. Hold implementation is a fixed package per matter with a stated number of project hours, one tenant and a set custodian count; more custodians or tenants are added by written change order. Monthly administration is a fixed monthly block with any extra time billed hourly. Data mapping is quoted per project for one business unit and a set number of interviews. ESI protocol consulting is hourly with a short minimum. Preservation storage is billed per gigabyte per month, with a monthly minimum per matter.

Included	Quoted separately
Notice drafting for counsel’s approval, issuance and acknowledgment tracking	Third-party legal hold software licenses
Escalation reports to counsel	Custodians or tenants beyond the package
Source map for one business unit	Additional business units or systems
Encrypted storage of collected data	Search, processing and reviewer access

Mistakes to avoid before you contact us

• Sending a vague hold email. “Keep everything” without naming data types, apps and phones gets ignored. Specific notices with acknowledgments hold up better.
• Forgetting the auto-delete settings. A notice does not stop an automatic mailbox purge or disappearing chat messages. System settings have to change too.
• Wiping departing employees’ devices. Reissuing a laptop or phone during a hold can destroy the most important evidence. Pause reimaging until counsel clears it.
• Skipping text messages and personal apps. Many disputes turn on texts and messaging apps. Ask custodians where they actually communicate.
• Never releasing the hold. Holds that run forever cost money and keep data you no longer need. Release in writing when the duty ends.

Who this is for

• Law firms
• In-house legal teams
• HR and compliance leaders
• Small and mid-sized businesses without eDiscovery staff
• Nonprofits and schools
• IT managers supporting counsel

Why the online request is faster

When you choose legal hold or eDiscovery on the online request form, the request routes straight to the specialist who handles preservation and review work, with your matter details already in hand. There is no phone tag, and if a hold must go out this week, we can start scoping the same day.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Forensic data preservation and legal hold basics
• eDiscovery and litigation support: a general counsel’s guide
• How to preserve digital evidence before hiring an examiner
• Forensic readiness planning for companies
• Departing employee data theft: a forensic guide
• eDiscovery and litigation support services
• Document review and hosting services
• Cloud account extraction
• Remote forensic extraction

Counsel decides the scope, timing and release of every legal hold; Honeybadger Solutions provides technical and administrative support. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources: FRCP 37(e); FRCP 26(f); The Sedona Conference, Commentary on Legal Holds, Second Edition.