Legal hold: An instruction, issued by a company or its counsel, to preserve records relevant to anticipated or pending litigation or investigation, overriding normal deletion and retention rules until it is released.
Also known as: Litigation hold, Preservation notice, Retención legal
Key takeaways
- A legal hold suspends normal deletion for records relevant to a specific matter.
- The duty to preserve usually starts when litigation is reasonably anticipated, not when a lawsuit is filed.
- Chat messages, attachments and voice notes are records and can fall under a hold.
- C Chat does not have a built-in legal hold feature; owners and admins can export group conversations to preserve them.
- Legal hold decisions belong to your counsel; this page explains the concept only.
Most of the time, deleting old records is good hygiene. A legal hold is the exception: the moment a dispute becomes likely, the company must stop deleting anything that might be relevant. Chat makes that harder than it sounds, because work conversations are spread across groups, devices and people.
A legal hold: a plain definition
A legal hold is a preservation instruction. It identifies:
- The matter (a dispute, a claim, an investigation or an audit).
- The custodians (the people whose records may be relevant).
- The data sources (email, documents, chat groups, phones).
- The scope and dates (which period and topics are covered).
Once issued, the hold overrides the company’s normal data retention schedule for that material until counsel releases it.
How it works
A typical legal hold process looks like this:
- Trigger. Counsel decides that litigation or an investigation is reasonably anticipated.
- Scope. The team identifies relevant custodians, systems, chat groups and date ranges.
- Notice. Custodians receive a written notice telling them what to preserve and what not to delete.
- Preservation. Records are protected in place or copied to a secure location.
- Tracking. Acknowledgments and preservation steps are recorded, often alongside an audit log.
- Release. When the matter ends, counsel lifts the hold and normal retention resumes.
Preservation is the first step of the larger eDiscovery process, in which relevant records are collected, reviewed and produced.
Why it matters for business messaging
Chat is where many disputes start and where much of the evidence lives: the instruction that was or wasn’t given, the photo of the damage, the time someone said they arrived. Three issues make chat hard to hold:
- Personal apps. If staff coordinate on personal WhatsApp, the company cannot preserve those messages; they live on employees’ phones.
- Deletion habits. People routinely delete messages, leave groups or replace phones.
- Unclear ownership. Nobody knows which groups belong to the company and who can export them.
Law firms face this from both sides, as advisors and as businesses with their own communications. See secure messaging for law firms.
How it relates to C Chat
C Chat does not include a dedicated legal hold feature, and it does not offer settings that lock messages against deletion. What it does provide helps a process-driven hold:
- Groups belong to the team, with owners and admins who control membership.
- Team owners and admins can audit and export the team’s group conversations, so relevant groups can be copied as soon as a hold is issued.
- Direct messages between people stay private and are not part of the team export.
- When the platform must access content because of a legal requirement, that access is logged. See legal requests and logged platform access.
In practice, export relevant groups immediately after the trigger and store the export according to counsel’s instructions. The guide on legal hold and eDiscovery for business chat covers the steps, and the compliance overview lists what C Chat does and does not do.
Related terms and common misconceptions
- “A hold only starts when we are sued.” The duty often begins earlier, when litigation is reasonably expected.
- “An export is enough forever.” An export preserves a snapshot. If the matter continues, counsel may ask for updated exports.
- “Location does not matter.” Where data is stored can affect how it is requested. See data residency.
For a broader view of retention in the product, read data retention in C Chat, and use the vendor security questionnaire when evaluating any tool.
Getting started
The best time to prepare for a hold is before you need one. Move work conversations to groups the company controls, name owners and admins, and practice an export so you know how long it takes. Create your team in the web app at getcchat.com/c to get started.
Frequently asked questions
When does a company have to issue a legal hold?
Generally when it reasonably anticipates litigation or receives notice of an investigation, which can be well before a lawsuit is filed. The exact trigger depends on jurisdiction and circumstances, so your counsel should decide.
Does a legal hold apply to chat messages?
Usually yes. Courts and regulators treat electronic communications, including chat messages and their attachments, as records. If they are relevant to the matter, they should be preserved like email or documents.
Does C Chat have a legal hold button?
No. C Chat does not offer a built-in legal hold or a setting that blocks deletion. Team owners and admins can audit and export group conversations, which lets you preserve a copy of relevant groups as part of your hold process.
Are direct messages included in a team export?
No. Direct messages between people in C Chat are private and are not part of the team's audit or export. If a direct conversation may be relevant to a matter, discuss with counsel how to preserve it through the participants.
What happens if records under a hold are deleted?
Destroying relevant records after a duty to preserve arises can lead to serious consequences in litigation, depending on the jurisdiction. That is why holds should be issued early and communicated clearly to everyone involved.