A Litigation Hold Notice (“Notice”) is a letter from the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) directing you to preserve all Records (as defined in the Litigation Hold Policy), electronic or otherwise, that may be directly or indirectly related to the subject of the Notice, including, but not limited to, emails, correspondence, communications, documents, memos, contracts, reports, etc. This includes Records maintained or stored on University or personally owned laptop or desktop computers, mobile devices, tablets, or any other device. In addition, you are required to suspend the routine destruction of Records that may be directly or indirectly related to the subject of the Notice.
Office of General Counsel
Litigation Hold FAQs
The University has an obligation to preserve all Records related to a matter if it “reasonably anticipates” that the matter may lead to litigation in the future. You have been identified as an individual who may have Records regarding this matter.
No. This is a routine procedure that the University utilizes anytime it receives notice of a matter that could lead to litigation in order to preserve potential evidence related to the subject of the Notice. The issuance of a Notice should not be construed as an assessment of the merit of the legal claim.
- You must follow the directives in the Notice, including replying to the email to confirm your understanding and compliance with its requirements.
- You must preserve all Records maintained or stored either on or off campus, in all formats, related directly or indirectly to the matter identified in the Notice in their original electronic or hard copy form.
- You must suspend routine destruction of any Records upon receipt of the Notice.
- You must preserve all new Records that are created and/or received after the Notice.
- You must review any software programs to make sure such programs do not automatically destroy Records.
Yes. Please contact Brown University's Office of Information Technology ("OIT") if you have any questions regarding completing the Questionnaire at oit-legal-holds@brown.edu.
In the future, you may discover or receive Records related to this matter. If this occurs, you must preserve these Records and suspend any document-destruction procedures.
If it becomes necessary for the OGC or Brown’s outside counsel to collect the Records, we will segregate personal records from University business records to the extent possible.
Please contact OIT if you have any questions regarding the proper preservation of text messages at oit-legal-holds@brown.edu.
If at any point you anticipate upgrading, trading in, or otherwise disposing of any personally owned device that contains Records relevant to a Litigation Hold, you must notify OIT at oit-legal-holds@brown.edu.
It will depend upon the matter and the length of time it takes for it to be resolved. Legal matters can sometimes take years to resolve, so, often, Notices are in place for an extended period of time. When the University has resolved the matter, the OGC will notify you in writing that you no longer need to preserve your Records.
Not at this time. While this Litigation Hold is in effect, OGC and/or OIT may access the Records, including email account(s). OGC will contact you should we need you to provide any Records. Until then, you are required to maintain the original Records.
The University is obligated under law to preserve all relevant Records. Failure to meet the obligations set forth in this letter may expose the University and you to liability and/or legal penalties and fines.
If you have any questions regarding your OIT or University systems, such as email, hardware, or software and databases, please contact OIT at oit-legal-holds@brown.edu. If you have any questions regarding your legal obligations, please contact the OGC at general_counsel@brown.edu or at 401-863-3122.