A department uses templates in e-mails to notify custodians of documents about legal holds

A piece on Gerry Kenney, the general counsel of NEC Corp. of America, explains how his law department handles litigation holds (See my post of Aug. 27, 2008: litigation hold notices with 6 references.). Once they identify custodians who control data that must be preserved, the legal department sends them an e-mail with an embedded template that explains the obligation. “The e-mail includes two buttons at the bottom for response. One indicates the individual may have documents to be reviewed; the other indicates they don’t.” Custodians must respond and the legal department monitors responses.

Kenny adds, in CounseltoCounsel, Spring 2010 at 7, that his department uses its matter management system to launch the emails but Outlook could also do it and track respondents. It sounds like a down-to-earth, reliable method to spread the word and track that people understand their obligation to preserve relevant litigation files.