Identify the trigger point at which a preservation duty arises and a litigation hold must be issued.
Law & Contract Management
E-Disclosure, Litigation Holds and Technology-Assisted Document Review
Trains litigation and legal operations teams to issue litigation holds, run a proportionate e-disclosure process and deploy technology-assisted review defensibly.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
The moment a dispute becomes reasonably foreseeable, an organisation's duty to preserve evidence begins, whether or not a claim has actually been filed, and a poorly scoped litigation hold or an unsound collection method can lead to spoliation findings that damage a case long before it reaches trial. This course starts at that trigger point, building a litigation hold notice that names custodians and data sources precisely, then works through proportionate scoping so the disclosure exercise matches the value and complexity of the dispute rather than defaulting to collecting everything. Participants design a forensically sound collection methodology, configure a technology-assisted review workflow with a validated seed set and sampling protocol, and apply consistent coding conventions across a review team. The course finishes with privilege screening, redaction and production in the format a court disclosure protocol requires, plus the arguments used to defend the process if the other side challenges its completeness.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Draft a litigation hold notice that identifies custodians, data sources and prohibited destruction practices.
Scope an e-disclosure exercise proportionately against the value and complexity of the dispute.
Design a forensically sound collection methodology that preserves metadata and chain of custody.
Configure a technology-assisted review workflow, including seed set selection and validation sampling.
Apply consistent coding conventions for relevance, privilege and confidentiality across a review team.
Prepare a disclosure statement and production set that meets the applicable court disclosure protocol.
Who Should Attend
Litigation associates and paralegals managing e-disclosure exercises
In-house counsel issuing and monitoring litigation hold notices
Legal operations managers selecting e-disclosure review platforms
IT and records staff responsible for data collection and preservation
Contract review lawyers staffing technology-assisted document review
Compliance officers auditing preservation and disclosure compliance
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Preservation Duties and Litigation Holds
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1When the Duty to Preserve Arises
- Identify events, such as a claim letter or regulatory notice, that trigger a duty to preserve documents.
- Assess the scope of the preservation duty across email, messaging apps, shared drives and backup systems.
- Distinguish routine document retention policy suspension from a targeted litigation hold scope.
- Advise on preservation obligations for former employees and departing custodians relevant to a dispute.
Session 2Drafting and Monitoring the Hold Notice
- Draft a litigation hold notice that clearly lists custodians, data sources and prohibited disposal actions.
- Set a process for acknowledging receipt and periodically reminding custodians the hold remains in place.
- Coordinate with IT to suspend automated deletion rules affecting systems within the hold's scope.
- Document hold compliance steps to defend against a future spoliation allegation.
02Scoping and Collecting Data Proportionately
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Custodian and Data Source Mapping
- Identify likely custodians and data sources based on the pleaded issues and disclosure requests received.
- Map data sources across email servers, collaboration tools, mobile devices and third-party platforms.
- Apply the proportionality principle to limit the volume and cost of disclosure to the dispute's value.
- Negotiate the scope of disclosure with the opposing party or the court before collection begins.
Session 2Forensically Sound Collection
- Select a collection methodology that preserves file metadata and establishes a defensible chain of custody.
- Document collection steps in a log that records date, method, custodian and data volume collected.
- Assess collection challenges posed by encrypted devices, personal accounts and cloud-only data sources.
- Validate collected data against source systems to confirm completeness before review begins.
03Technology-Assisted Review in Practice
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Building and Validating the TAR Workflow
- Select a representative seed set of documents to train a technology-assisted review model.
- Design a validation sampling protocol that measures recall and precision before relying on the model.
- Set stabilisation criteria that determine when the model's relevance predictions are reliable enough to use.
- Document the technology-assisted review methodology to defend it if challenged by the opposing party.
Session 2Coding Conventions and Quality Control
- Establish coding conventions for relevance, confidentiality and privilege applied consistently across reviewers.
- Run inter-reviewer consistency checks to identify and correct systematic coding disagreements.
- Prioritise review queues using model-ranked relevance scores to focus reviewer time efficiently.
- Track review progress and error rates through platform reporting dashboards.
04Privilege Review, Production and Court Protocols
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Privilege Screening and Redaction
- Apply keyword and conceptual search protocols to isolate documents likely to attract legal privilege.
- Redact privileged or irrelevant content within an otherwise disclosable document accurately.
- Compile a privilege log with sufficient detail to justify withholding without disclosing content.
- Quality-check privilege calls through a second-level review before finalising the production set.
Session 2Production Formats and Sanctions Risk
- Prepare a production set in the load file and image format required by the applicable court protocol.
- Draft a disclosure statement describing the search terms, sources and methodology used.
- Respond to a challenge alleging disclosure is incomplete or that relevant sources were omitted.
- Assess the risk of adverse inference or sanctions where preservation or collection steps were deficient.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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