Automated Legal Hold Software For In-House Legal Teams
Replace Spreadsheets with an Automated Legal Hold Management System
Percipient's Legal Hold software helps in-house legal teams draft, send and track litigation holds with automation, not spreadsheets.
A Defensible Legal Hold Process on Autopilot
Take the guesswork out of your legal hold process with automated, reliable legal hold tracking management software.
Issue Litigation Hold Notices in Minutes
Instantly create, edit and send litigation hold notices on the spot. Start with one of our legal hold templates, or use one of your own. Draft your legal hold notice once, and save it as a template for later. Send a litigation hold notice in minutes with just a few clicks.
Automated Notifications and Reminders
Percipient's legal hold system sends litigation hold notices to all selected custodians and automatically triggers follow-up reminders until they acknowledge receipt. Achieve 100% compliance rates without sending a single manual email.
One-Click Reporting
Need to disclose your preservation efforts to a judge or opposing counsel? Using Percipient's legal hold technology, export a legal hold audit trail detailing every legal hold notice sent, read, and acknowledged by employees and custodians. Easily establish a defensible legal hold process.
Legal Hold Software Built for In-House Litigators
Percipient’s legal hold automation platform was developed for in-house legal teams. It is more than just legal hold software; it is a dedicated compliance tool designed to ensure defensible data preservation.
How our Legal Hold Automation Works
From Draft to Sent in 3 Steps
Select Legal Hold Custodians
Bulk upload litigation hold custodians or enter them one at a time.
Draft Legal Hold Notice
Customize and use our standard legal hold notice template or use and save your own for use on multiple matters.
Send & Track
Hit send and the legal hold dashboard populates in real time as custodians and recipients acknowledge receipt.
WHAT IS A LEGAL HOLD?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a legal hold?
For a party to meet its obligation to produce relevant evidence in litigation or in response to a subpoena, they must first meet their duty to preserve evidence. Often, one of the first steps an in-house lawyer takes to preserve evidence is to send a litigation hold letter (or “legal hold”) to employees that worked on the project or transaction subject to dispute.
Litigation hold letters are issued in anticipation of litigation instructing recipients to preserve relevant documents and other information. The duty to preserve relevant information is triggered when litigation is “reasonably anticipated.
For more, read this in-depth article on legal holds.
What is a triggering event for a legal hold?
Litigation hold letters are issued in anticipation of litigation instructing recipients to preserve relevant documents and other information. The duty to preserve relevant information is triggered when litigation is “reasonably anticipated.”
The test for “reasonable anticipation of litigation” varies by jurisdiction, but, in general, reasonable anticipation of litigation arises when a party knows there is a credible threat that it will become involved in litigation.
For more, read this in-depth article on legal hold triggers.
Does this software collect data, or just manage the legal hold notice process?
Percipient’s Legal Hold tool is a dedicated legal hold notification and tracking platform. With our cloud based legal software, users can automate the issuance, acknowledgment and tracking of legal hold notices.
Our legal hold audit reports provide the roadmap you need to establish a defensible preservation process and that your legal team took the measures necessary to inform employees of their duty to preserve evidence. The tool prepares reports detailing all custodians given notice, when they received and acknowledged the legal hold and when any reminders were sent.
Is there a limit to the number of custodians or matters?
No. The app works for organizations and matters of all sizes. Whether you have five active matters or 500, and whether you need to place 10 employees or 1000 on litigation hold, our legal hold platform scales accordingly.
Can we use our existing legal hold templates?
Absolutely. You can upload an unlimited number of templates for different matter types (e.g., “General Litigation,” “IP Dispute,” “Internal Investigation”). You can also use and customize our legal hold templates, vetted by our own litigation experts.
Are legal hold notices protected by attorney-client privilege?
Generally, legal hold notices (also called “litigation holds”) are privileged, protected by the attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine.
However, the privileged nature of legal hold letters may be lost if a party spoliates evidence (destroys evidence) or fails to observe appropriate document and electronically stored information preservation procedures.
For more, read this in-depth article on Litigation and Legal Hold Notices and the Attorney Client Privilege.
How does this help us with FRCP Rule 37(e) compliance?
Rule 37(e) requires “reasonable steps” to preserve ESI. Our platform creates an immutable, time-stamped audit trail for every action: when a notice was sent, when it was opened, and exactly when it was acknowledged. If your preservation efforts are ever challenged in court, you can generate a comprehensive compliance report in one click.
What is Percipient? Is it a legal hold software vendor?
We are more than that. Although Percipient builds software products, we are also a modern legal services provider blending cutting-edge technology and human expertise to help corporate legal departments and their law firms tackle legal operations, compliance matters, and optimize legal processes.
Can’t I just use a spreadsheet template to track legal holds?
While it might make sense to start by using a legal hold spreadsheet template, manual tracking becomes difficult as matters scale. Using litigation hold software creates an automated audit trail, making it easier to establish when a custodian received a litigation hold notice and when they acknowledged their duty to preserve evidence.
What are the best legal hold software features to look for?
The best legal hold automation platforms prioritize defensibility and ease of use. When evaluating software, look for these features:
Automated Custodian Tracking and Escalation: A legal hold tool should automatically nudge unresponsive employees and provide updates on acknowledgment status. If a custodian ignores reminders, the software should automatically escalate the notification to ensure 100% compliance.
Defensible Audit Trails: Users should be able to instantly generate reports detailing notice sent, read, and acknowledged dates—essential for proving a defensible litigation hold process.Customizable Templates: Look for a platform that allows you to store your own legal hold notices while also offering pre-built templates as a starting point.
Centralized Legal Hold Dashboard: A single “source of truth” where users can view all active matters, outstanding legal hold acknowledgments, and global preservation efforts at a glance.
INSIGHTS
Learn More with our Legal Hold Resources
Litigation Hold Triggers and the Duty to Preserve Evidence
Implementing a legal hold to preserve relevant information is required upon a credible threat of litigation and preservation efforts must be reasonable. But…sanctions for spoliation of evidence are only available if prejudice is shown.
Attorneys’ Duty to Implement Legal Hold Does Not End After Hitting Send
Evidence preservation does not end with a legal hold email. Both in-house and outside counsel are responsible for legal hold compliance.
Are Legal Hold Notices Protected by Attorney-Client Privilege?
Litigation hold notices are generally privileged, but the privilege may be lost if evidence is spoliated or through use of poor legal hold procedures.