Legal Hold and Discovery Log

This case log serves as the central record for legal holds and discovery activities. It captures core facts needed to preserve data and demonstrate compliance: a case notification ID, the assigned electronic data collection coordinator, hold notification date, the party making the claim, named custodians, the data collection site, and the trigger event (such as notice of a lawsuit or intent to sue). Used consistently, it enables defensible preservation of information, risk mitigation, and an auditable chain of actions across legal proceedings and investigations.

Teams manage eDiscovery by linking this log to their Microsoft 365 environment and other cloud data sources. Entries can reference litigation hold settings in Microsoft Purview, ediscovery holds applied to Exchange Online, Teams, Groups, and Skype for Business, and whether content is preserved in place. Administrators may document retention policies and retention labels, organization-wide or specific location retention policies, retention actions, and retention duration or hold duration.

Technical notes often include mailbox status (managed mailbox, inactive mailbox), the Recoverable Items folder, ComplianceTagHoldApplied or DelayReleaseHoldApplied indicators, the Managed Folder Assistant, and whether content was excluded from a policy or removed from a mailbox. To identify the hold, teams may record a GUID and Security & Compliance PowerShell steps (for example, Get-Mailbox, Get-OrganizationConfig) and link to the audit log for a defensible audit trail.

The log also supports broader ediscovery software workflows: case creation, hold notices to notify custodians, hold tracking and reminders, and board ownership details when preserving boards or exporting boards placed under hold. Organizations with Microsoft 365 integration and other integrations, such as Google Vault, Slack, or Box, can record how content is preserved, including deduplicates, email threading, culling intelligence, data reductions, PII detection, privilege screening, search functionality, mass redaction, and production size visibility. This documentation aids document review, production, and case grouping through to case closed, ensuring retained content is not permanently deleted before the retention period ends.

Common use cases include rapid evidence collection after a trigger event, DSARs, preserving content during team deletion, and moving data to an inactive mailbox when employees depart. The case log provides administrative control to preserve content, preserve data in place, and meet regulatory obligations.

Proposal Kit helps teams assemble these records quickly using an extensive template library, document assembly, automated line-item quoting for services, and an AI Writer to build supporting documents, improving ease of use and consistency.

Expanding on governance, this log also helps organizations decide when to use an in-place hold versus a delay hold while aligning with compliance regulations. It supports organization-wide retention policies and retention label policies by tying each case to clear retention policy documentation and the specific retention label applied. The eDiscovery Admin role can be identified in the log to clarify ownership of the hold workflow, hold reminders, and tracking holds, with timelines captured for legal proceedings and data subject access requests. Many teams add an eDiscovery section to summarize scope, custodians, and the rationale for holds to keep the record defensible and consistent.

Modern discovery extends beyond mail and files to collaboration spaces. The log can record actions to preserve boards, note boards under legal hold, plan a board export, and verify that deleted boards are addressed. When organizations rely on a cloud-based platform or cloud-native legal holds software to automate legal holds, the case record provides context for tooling such as a case builder, auto review, and genai-assisted triage. Whether using general solutions or specialized offerings often labeled legal hold pro or digital discovery pro, documenting these steps increases cross-team visibility and reduces risk.

Proposal Kit strengthens this process by giving teams ready-to-use templates to write retention policy documentation, define the eDiscovery section, outline role responsibilities such as the eDiscovery Admin role, and standardize the hold workflow. Its document assembly, automated line-item quoting, and AI Writer help produce consistent, professional materials quickly, streamlining case setup and communication without adding operational complexity.

Further strengthening the program, teams can use the case log to standardize naming conventions, map each hold to a unique GUID, and record the lifecycle from case creation through case closure with explicit checkpoints. Documenting hold duration, retention duration, and retention actions side by side clarifies when an in-place hold, delay hold, or ediscovery hold interacts with retention label policies. The log should note when content is excluded from a policy or removed from a mailbox, and whether ComplianceTagHoldApplied or DelayReleaseHoldApplied flags appeared.

For Microsoft 365 integration, IT can verify settings with Security & Compliance PowerShell (for example, Get-Mailbox or Get-OrganizationConfig), check Managed Folder Assistant runs, and confirm data is available in the Recoverable Items folder. This creates clear preservation of information practices that meet compliance regulations and regulatory obligations while improving risk mitigation.

Operationally, capture who owns administrative control for each managed mailbox and inactive mailbox, plus escalation paths within the eDiscovery Admin role. Include metrics such as time to issue hold notices, rate of notify custodians acknowledgments, and completeness of the audit log and audit trail. For cloud data, the log can document integrations with Microsoft Purview and Exchange Online alongside other cloud-based platform sources, including Google Vault, Slack, and Box, ensuring cloud-native workflows preserve data in place.

When using ediscovery software, record how deduplication, email threading, culling intelligence, data reduction, PII detection, privilege screening, search functionality, mass redaction, production size visibility, and production processes were configured. For collaboration spaces, track preserve boards, board export results, boards under legal hold, and remediation steps for deleted boards.

Strategically, link the eDiscovery section to DSARs, investigations, and legal proceedings. Note case grouping, timelines, and evidence collection plans. If your tooling includes a case builder, auto review, or genai-assisted summaries, the log should capture how these features affected defensible outcomes. Use cases include HR investigations, vendor disputes, cyber incidents, team deletion events, and workforce changes that require rapid preservation to keep retained content from being permanently deleted.

Proposal Kit supports this disciplined approach by helping teams assemble retention policy documentation, role definitions, and repeatable hold workflow narratives using its template library, document assembly, automated line-item quoting, and AI Writer, making it easier to produce clear, consistent records.

How do you write a Legal Hold and Discovery Log document?