What’s the hidden cost of “manual” legal hold processes? And why does it matter? Insight Optix discusses that in their latest post here!

As discussed in their post titled (wait for it!) The Hidden Cost of “Manual” Legal Hold Processes and Why It Matters (available here), Legal hold processes are foundational to defensible discovery, yet many corporate legal teams still rely on manual workflows to manage them. Spreadsheets, email chains, and shared folders may feel familiar — but familiarity often masks the real cost of operating this way.

Those costs don’t always show up as obvious failures. Instead, they surface quietly: in lost time, reduced visibility, increased risk, and missed opportunities for legal teams to operate more strategically.

A “manual” legal hold process typically includes:

• Emailing hold notices, reminders, and escalations
• Tracking acknowledgements in spreadsheets
• Maintaining separate lists and spreadsheets for custodians, data sources, and departed and hold release documentation
• Reusing static templates across very different matters
• Reconstructing hold history when questions arise

That’s a lot, right?

These processes weren’t designed to be inefficient, but they evolved organically as workloads increased. But as legal matters multiply and data environments become more complex, manual systems struggle to keep up.

So, what is one of the most underestimated costs of managing legal holds? What is the “visibility gap” and how does it create risk? And what is the opportunity cost of staying manual? Find out here, it’s only one click! There’s no cost – hidden or otherwise – to click! 😉

So, what do you think? Is your organization finding managing legal holds effectively to be challenging? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Image created using DALL-E-3, using the term “frustrated robot lawyer looking at a spreadsheet on a workstation in a law office”.

Disclosure: Insight Optix is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.