2,200 Systems Decommissioned Without Compromising Legal Holds

Lighthouse helps legal and IT collaborate on a defensible framework to retire 2,200 systems containing data under legal hold.

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2,200+

Repositories

UP TO 1PB+

per Repository

Month Project

Overview

When a global financial institution wanted to decommission thousands of systems subject to legal hold, they needed a bridge between Legal and IT. Lighthouse experts helped them reduce risk and save millions by retiring systems without compromising compliance.

Background

Following a high-profile acquisition, a global financial institution inherited thousands of legacy structured data systems from the acquired entity. Most of them contained data under legal hold. To reduce operational costs and legal risk, the acquiring company launched an initiative to decommission these legacy systems while ensuring defensible preservation. The client’s legal team wanted assurances that data subject to preservation orders for ongoing matters would remain accessible and secure for years to come.

Impressed by Lighthouse’s playbook, the client shifted the entire project to our team.

Challenges

The legacy environments included approximately 2,200 repositories with structured data. IT aimed to decommission these systems to reduce costs, while Legal needed confirmation that legal holds were preserved before signing off on each system. The client also had to navigate international data privacy regulations, particularly when data consolidation meant data was moved across borders. Initially, two service providers split the responsibilities: the General Counsel’s office engaged one, and the eDiscovery department turned to Lighthouse because they had a long-term relationship. This fragmented approach introduced inefficiencies and risk.

Solutions

Lighthouse consultants:

Liaised between Legal and IT, validating preservation plans for each repository.
Built a detailed playbook, documentation standards, and a quality control process to provide consistency across the project.
Conducted regular review calls with IT.
Approved or rejected plans based on standards defined by Legal, ensuring retrieval capabilities, immutability, and long-term access.

When the client saw our approach, they consolidated the work under Lighthouse, extended the engagement by 24 months, and rescoped the project.

Wins

The acquiring company:

Gained a defensible, repeatable preservation process aligned with legal and regulatory obligations.
Decommissioned costly legacy systems while maintaining legal hold compliance.
Improved coordination between Legal and IT, expediting approvals.
Mitigated regulatory risk by tracking and documenting preservation decisions.
Ensured cross-border data preservation aligned with jurisdictional privacy regulations.
Reduced long-term operational costs by retiring expensive platforms.

Take Aways

This project illustrates how cross-departmental cooperation can reduce risk and costs in post-acquisition decommissions and rationalizations. With a well-designed playbook and a team fluent in legal obligations and technical systems, the client adopted a defensible preservation strategy and unlocked long-term savings.