Don’t Let the Data Walk Out the Door: Aligning Legal, HR, and IT at Employee Exit, Reuters
March 31, 2026Partner Tara Lawler, of counsel Matthew Hamilton, and associate Lindsey Bonafede co-authored an article for Reuters examining how organizations can mitigate data preservation risks during employee departures through coordinated legal, HR, and IT processes.
The article explains that employee exits present a predictable point of failure for legal hold compliance, as uncoordinated offboarding actions can result in data loss across email, cloud platforms, devices, and messaging systems. The authors outline a structured, cross-functional framework that emphasizes early notification, legal hold verification, and technical preservation measures while highlighting the importance of governance, training, and standardized workflows to meet evolving judicial expectations and reduce litigation exposure.