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Legal Holds

DueDili enables M&A teams to preserve deal data during post-closing disputes, regulatory inquiries, litigation, or internal reviews. Holds can target all data for an organization or specific deal conversations and documents. Protected data is excluded from automated retention cleanup until the hold is released.

Why Legal Holds Matter in M&A

M&A transactions create unique legal preservation requirements:

  • Post-closing disputes may require preserving all records related to representations, warranties, and the due diligence process
  • Indemnification claims may require preserving evidence of what information was disclosed and when
  • Antitrust investigations may require preserving records related to deal rationale and market analysis
  • Securities litigation may require preserving records related to disclosure and valuation

DueDili's legal hold system ensures that relevant data is preserved regardless of normal retention policies.

Supported Hold Reasons

  • Litigation — Post-closing dispute, breach of representation claim, or other civil litigation
  • Regulatory investigation — Antitrust review, securities inquiry, or other regulatory matter
  • Subpoena — Court-ordered or regulatory production of deal records
  • Internal investigation — Compliance review, conflict of interest inquiry, or deal process review

What Can Be Preserved

Holds can protect any combination of:

  • Audit logs — Records of deal data access
  • Deal conversations — AI-assisted discussions about targets and transactions
  • Data room documents — Financials, contracts, and due diligence materials

Holds can be broad (all data for an organization) or targeted (specific deal conversations or documents), allowing you to preserve only what's relevant while normal retention continues for unrelated data.

Hold Lifecycle

  1. Creation — Hold is created with documented reason, scope, and optional expiration
  2. Active — Protected data is excluded from all retention cleanup
  3. Release — Hold is released with documented reason; data becomes eligible for normal retention

All hold operations are recorded in the tamper-evident audit trail.

M&A Scenarios

Post-Closing Dispute

When a buyer asserts an indemnification claim, create a legal hold targeting all conversations and documents related to the relevant representations. Include audit logs to preserve the record of what information was accessed during diligence. Maintain the hold until the dispute is resolved.

Antitrust Second Request

When receiving a second request from antitrust authorities, create a hold on all data related to the transaction, including deal rationale discussions and market analysis. Preserve all access logs that may be relevant to the investigation.

Deal Process Review

When reviewing a deal process for governance purposes, create a targeted hold on conversations involving the deal team. Preserve audit logs showing access patterns. Release after review concludes with documented findings.

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