Place a case on legal hold using a three-step wizard. Step 1 captures the trigger event and jurisdiction. Step 2 defines the preservation scope. Step 3 records the privileged basis narrative and gives you the choice to save the hold as a draft or issue it immediately. Once issued, the hold blocks destructive actions on the case and starts the custodian-notice workflow.
How the wizard fits the duty
Preservation duty attaches when litigation, investigation, audit, or formal demand is reasonably anticipated. The wizard captures the trigger event verbatim so the firm has a single point of record for when the duty attached and what set it off. The basis narrative you write is privileged work product. It's stored alongside the hold and never sent to custodians or opposing counsel unless you explicitly export with the privileged-narratives toggle on.
Holds have two states the wizard creates: Draft and Issued. A draft holds your trigger and scope on the case record without changing what users can do. Issued means destructive actions are blocked and the custodian workflow is live. You can resume a draft any time by reopening the wizard from the Legal Hold panel.
How to place a case on hold
- Open the wizard. From the case kebab menu select Place on legal hold... or open Case Settings and click Place on legal hold on the Legal Hold panel.
- Step 1 - Trigger.Pick a trigger event type: Litigation, Investigation, Audit, Subpoena, or Other. Other reveals a free-text field so you can type the exact phrase that fits (for example "Demand letter received"). Pick the event date. Pick a jurisdiction; Other reveals a free-text field for non-canonical jurisdictions like US-FL or Ontario.
- Step 2 - Scope. Write a plain-language scope summary. Pick one or more scope categories from the chip group: email, documents, calendars, chat, financial, contracts, source code. Set a reminder cadence; 90 days is the default.
- Step 3 - Basis & Issue. Review the trigger and scope summary. Write a privileged basis narrative explaining why preservation is reasonably anticipated. Choose Save as draft to capture the hold without activating restrictions, or Issue immediately to activate the hold and unlock the custodian-notice workflow.
- Confirm issuance. Issuing prompts a final confirmation. After confirming, Hintyr navigates to the Legal Hold panel so you can add custodians and compose the initial notice.
Options and fields
Step 1: Trigger
- Trigger event type(required) - One of Litigation, Investigation, Audit, Subpoena, or Other. The first four are pre-canonicalized for filtering and reporting. Other reveals a free-text field; type the trigger phrase you'd actually use in a meet-and-confer (e.g. "Demand letter received", "Regulatory inquiry").
- Trigger event type (please specify) (required when Trigger event type is Other) - Free text up to 64 characters.
- Trigger event date (required) - When the duty attached. Cannot be in the future. Most firms use the date a demand letter was received or a complaint was filed.
- Jurisdiction (required) - One of Federal, US-CA, US-NY, US-TX, US-DE, or Other. Other reveals a free-text field.
- Jurisdiction (please specify) (required when Jurisdiction is Other) - Free text up to 64 characters. Use it for other U.S. states, foreign jurisdictions, or transnational matters (e.g. US-FL, Ontario, EU).
Step 2: Scope
- Scope summary(required) - Plain-language description of what's preserved. Treat it as the sentence you'd read into a meet-and-confer record.
- Scope categories (required, at least one) - Multi-select chip group with seven values: email, documents, calendars, chat, financial, contracts, source code. The categories feed the preservation notice so custodians know which kinds of material to keep.
- Reminder cadence (days)(required, default 90) - How often custodians who haven't acknowledged are re-prompted. Override per-custodian on the custodian record.
Step 3: Basis & Issue
- Trigger basis narrative(required, privileged) - The attorney's reasoning for why preservation is reasonably anticipated. Goes into the audit log verbatim. Treat as privileged work product. See "Privilege over the basis narrative" below.
- Save as draft - Captures the hold on the case record without activating restrictions. Resume any time by reopening the wizard from the Legal Hold panel. Available only when creating a new hold; the resume flow drops this button because the draft already exists.
- Issue immediately - Activates the hold, blocks destructive actions, and routes you to the Legal Hold panel to add custodians and compose the initial notice.
Scope proportionality
FRCP 26(b)(1) requires preservation that's proportional to the matter. Picking every category by reflex isn't a safe default; it's an unnecessarily broad scope you'll later have to defend. Write the scope summary first, in plain language, then pick the categories the summary actually implies. If the matter is a contract dispute touching one account, "email and documents" usually covers it. Adding chat and financial because they exist invites cost without value.
Sedona Conference Commentary on Legal Holds (2d ed.) treats proportionality as the firm's responsibility, not the custodian's. The scope you write is what the custodian sees, so write it in language they can act on without reading it twice. See proportionality under Rule 26 for a deeper read.
Privilege over the basis narrative
The basis narrative is the attorney's reasoning for why preservation is reasonably anticipated. It's privileged work product under FRE 901 and ABA Op 512. Don't share it with custodians or opposing counsel. The wizard captures it on the hold record and the audit log so the firm has a defensible internal record; it is excluded from the preservation notice content sent to custodians, and it is excluded from the default evidence-export bundle unless you flip the privileged-narratives toggle on at export time.
Write the narrative as you would in an internal memo, not in diplomatic language for outside review. Treat any field labeled "(privileged)" the same way. Risk of inadvertent disclosure is real; see how AI tools change the privilege risk surface.
Amending the hold
Once a hold is issued, you don't edit it through the wizard. Open the Legal Hold panel and click Amend scope to open the Amend Scope dialog. It pre-fills the current scope summary, categories, and reminder cadence; edit any of them. The Amendment reason field is required and goes into the audit log verbatim. Applying the amendment fires a scope-amendment notice to active custodians so their preservation instructions stay current.
Use Amend Scope when discovery reveals a category you initially excluded (e.g. Slack threads in a channel you didn't know existed) or when the matter expands. If the matter narrows, you can also amend down; doing so doesn't release the underlying hold.