A legal hold is a formal process that requires an organization to preserve information that may be relevant to a pending or anticipated legal matter. It pauses the deletion of data by coordinating with IT and custodians; it also ensures that emails, documents, and other electronically stored information remain intact for potential review. This obligation forms a core part of defensible discovery practices and helps organizations demonstrate compliance when litigation risk arises.
For legal professionals and firms, two key software categories support this obligation.
One is eDiscovery hold software, which is designed to help legal teams sift through large volumes of electronic information to identify, process, review, and produce relevant information. The other is litigation hold software, aimed primarily at preserving entire data stores once the duty to preserve arises. It also provides reminders, tracks all legal hold activities, as well as custodians.
In this article, we’ll compare both software categories, examining their benefits, features, and the situations in which each is most appropriate.
Aspect | eDiscovery Hold | Litigation Hold |
Purpose | Manage full discovery lifecycle, including data processing, review, and production | Preserve data and manage custodian notice obligations |
Core Capabilities | Processing, tagging, search, collaboration tools, and document review | Data preservation, reminders, custodian tracking, audit trails |
Ideal Use Case | Matters involving large datasets or complex discovery | Situations where preservation is the priority before review begins |
Benefits | Saves on time and money while also improving review efficiency | Reduces legal risk by preventing data spoliation and standardizes preservation |
Automation Level | Automates processing, review workflows, and analytics | Automates notice delivery, acknowledgments and tracking |
eDiscovery hold software refers to a solution that automates discovery steps during an investigation or legal discovery proceeding. Typical capabilities include data ingestion from multiple sources, file indexing, virus scanning, etc. With these features, eDiscovery software can streamline the collection, processing, review, and production of electronic information during regulatory inquiries and investigations.
Legal teams often use eDiscovery software to save on both money and time that would otherwise be spent on manual and repetitive tasks. Such software also ensures that the legal discovery process meets all state and federal requirements to avoid potential eDiscovery sanctions.
Core Features Of eDiscovery Hold Software
Examples Of eDiscovery Hold Software
Everlaw
Everlaw is a cloud-native e-discovery platform that supports legal holds as part of its end-to-end functionality. It offers automated legal-hold workflows, including issuing hold notices, tracking custodian acknowledgements, and maintaining an auditable trail of preservation activity.
Logikcull
Logikcull is a cloud-based e-discovery platform designed for ease and speed, and it includes a dedicated legal-hold component, ‘Logikcull Hold’, to automate many of the preservation tasks. It allows users to select custodians, send hold notices, set reminders, and track compliance—all with minimal manual effort.
Litigation hold software (also referred to as legal hold software) supports the formal process by which organizations suspend document disposal when a litigation or an investigation is anticipated.
Unlike eDiscovery software, which manages the full lifecycle of electronic information, litigation hold software focuses specifically on the preservation phase. Its primary function is to suspend routine data deletion, issue hold notices to custodians, track acknowledgements, and maintain audit trails to demonstrate compliance with preservation obligations.
Core Features Of Litigation Hold Software
Examples Of Litigation Hold Software
Relativity
Relativity’s legal-hold solution is built to manage the entire preservation process within a single, scalable platform. It offers centralized preservation of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) with in-place preservation across cloud services
DISCO Hold
DISCO Hold is a cloud-native legal-hold platform aimed at automating the preservation workflow and reducing manual effort. It provides a unified environment, enabling legal teams to issue notices, track custodian acknowledgments, preserve data, and maintain a complete audit trail.
eDiscovery software and litigation hold software both serve different purposes. As such, the choice between them depends on certain factors outlined below:
Choose An eDiscovery Hold Software When:
- You need to review and analyze large volumes of ESI
- You require analytics, filtering and advanced search to evaluate evidence
- You need to meet all state and federal requirements for a legal discovery process
Choose A Litigation Hold Software When:
- Your priority is preserving data before or during an anticipated litigation
- You want automated notice issuance, reminders, and custodian tracking
- You require a system focused on defensible preservation and audit trails
eDiscovery hold software and litigation hold software each serve an important purpose in the broader preservation and discovery landscape. However, they operate at different stages of the legal workflow.
Litigation hold solutions focus on initiating and managing defensible preservation, ensuring that custodians receive clear notices, data remains intact, and organizations maintain compliance when litigation is anticipated. Meanwhile, eDiscovery software extends far beyond preservation, supporting data processing, review, analysis, and production throughout the full discovery lifecycle.
Hence, the right choice depends on whether the primary need is preservation or discovery management. It’s up to the legal firms and professionals to discern what they’re currently facing so that they can select the appropriate tool for the job.