The Internal Investigation Toolkit

1. Who Is This Toolkit for?

‍This toolkit is designed for in-house legal teams, HR and compliance leads, eDiscovery managers, litigation support professionals, legal operations teams, and outside counsel responsible for running or supporting a corporate internal investigation.

2. Can I Use This Toolkit in Real Matters?

‍Yes. It is built as a practical documentation aid that captures the decisions, preservation states, and findings an investigation record needs. Because privilege posture and notification obligations vary by jurisdiction and matter, use it alongside your organization's procedures and counsel's guidance.

3. Why Does the Workbook Preserve Before It Notifies?

‍A standard hold notice tells the subject exactly what you are looking at, and can trigger the very deletion it exists to prevent. Silent, in-place holds suspend deletion at the system level without notice. The workbook records when and why notification was eventually given.

4. When Does the Duty to Preserve Begin in an Investigation?

‍When litigation becomes reasonably foreseeable, which is frequently the moment a credible allegation arrives. In Zubulake, the duty attached while the dispute was still internal, months before any filing. The workbook opens with a dated decision record for that reason.

5. Does It Cover Personal Devices?

‍Yes. Work data on a personal device can still sit within the company's possession, custody, or control under FRCP 34. The workbook prompts for written authorization scoped to the matter, and for documenting what you chose not to collect.

6. How Is This Different From Other Investigation Templates?

‍Most templates are a report shell. This workbook covers the work before the report, the preservation register and the decision log, where investigations actually fail. It pairs with the Custodian Interview Workbook, which runs the individual sessions this one only sequences.

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