If you work in a legal profession or legal services, then chances are you understand the importance of evidence.
Evidence is proof of guilt or innocence, and it’s what helps the courts determine whether someone has committed a crime. After charges are filed, the defendant has an opportunity to produce evidence that proves their innocence.
It is known as discovery, which can include information about the crime scene, photos of the crime scene taken with a camera before the trauma scene cleanup, police interviews recorded with a digital audio recorder, and police reports.
This evidence can be stored in many different forms. Still, it’s advised not to store the data on your computer because this makes it vulnerable to critical incidents such as theft or ransomware attacks. That is where legal hold software comes into play.
What Is Legal Hold Software and How It Can Help You
Legal hold software stores and manages data of any pending litigation. The functionality is a part of ediscovery software that can store data in a central, secure location.
It will keep the data safe and guarantee that you have access to it no matter what happens to your network or computers. If you want to identify the best discovery software for your agency, then consider some of these features.
Data Archiving
If you fail to meet a court deadline, your evidence may not be allowed in the case. Legal Discovery software can automate data archiving so that critical data is stored securely until it’s needed again. It will also prevent data from being deleted by mistake or any other accident.
Legal Hold
If you’re missing data for some reason, then legal hold software can help your agency comply with a legal order. It will index all the data stored on the server and provide you with an up-to-date list of files to know exactly what evidence is available.
This information can be displayed in the form of an interactive report, allowing you to find any files that have been deleted or corrupted.
HIPAA Compliance
If your agency handles sensitive data, then you need to follow all guidelines regarding HIPAA compliance. This law protects a person’s medical records and ensures they remain private.
It is easy to create separate folders for different cases or clients and automatically delete data once the retention period has expired with discovery software.
It will keep your agency in line with HIPAA regulations and help protect your reputation.
Standardized Workflows
If your organization stores its data on multiple computers, you must use discovery software to sync up all those machines.
It is because it’s difficult to make any progress when you have one system that stores all the data and a separate interface for reviewing it.
By syncing everything together, you can automate workflows and improve collaboration. Standardized workflows are also helpful if data cannot be stored on a computer due to a policy violation.
When this happens, it’s possible to bypass the security restriction and index all the data on remote servers to hold nobody back by housekeeping rules.
Remote Data Searching
It can be time-consuming to search for files on multiple machines. With discovery software, you can perform remote searches instead.
The software uses a search index, which can be applied to multiple devices simultaneously. The index is stored centrally so that it’s always up-to-date and accessible from any location or device. With remote data searching, you no longer have to waste time moving files back and forth because everything you need can be accessed immediately.
Legal hold software can help you control your data and keep it secure after the retention period expires. It also automates workflows so that critical data is always archived, reviewed, and shared between departments.
