Litigation Hold

A litigation hold (also: legal hold) is a flag placed on documents, folders, or a user's content by Legal Counsel, preventing deletion regardless of retention policy. The hold attaches as soon as litigation is reasonably anticipated — not when it begins.

In Papyrus, a litigation hold:

• Is created by a privileged user (typically Legal Counsel + Compliance Officer)
• Names a case reference, scope (documents/folders/users), date range, and custodians
• Notifies custodians automatically
• Overrides retention policy disposition — held documents cannot be deleted
• Is released only by an authorised user with the release logged

Failure to preserve evidence under hold is spoliation — a legal concept with serious consequences in subsequent litigation. The hash-chained audit log provides defensible evidence that hold was placed when required and not lifted prematurely.

See also

• Legal: Litigation Holds and Discovery
• Retention Policy
• Records Retention