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P E E R T O P E E R M A G A Z I N E · S U M M E R 2 0 2 5 43 THE FUTURE OF HYPERLINKED FILE MANAGEMENT While most cloud platforms are still racing to catch up, a growing ecosystem of solutions is helping IT teams close discovery gaps around hyperlinked files. Some advanced tools now offer: Automated legal hold propagation that can freeze both emails or chat messages and their cloud file targets, preserving not just the link but the document as it was at the point of legal interest. Snapshots or immutable archives of files when they are hyperlinked, ensuring a "point-in-time" version is always available for future review. Centralized dashboards integrating communications, links, access history, and legal holds, simplifying the response to ediscovery requests and audits. Seamless handoff mechanisms between IT and legal, reducing the risk and friction typically associated with complex, cross- functional workflows. These advances mark significant progress, but it remains critical for each law firm's IT team to evaluate its own risk posture and technology stack. The path to defensible eDiscovery remains firm-specific, and proactive governance is key. BE PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE Hyperlinked files are not a niche challenge. They are a growing reality of modern digital communication. As more legal and regulatory bodies come to expect defensible retention of linked content, the burden on IT departments will only increase. Amid these evolving approaches, email journaling has re-emerged as a valuable safeguard for capturing not only the communications where links are sent but also the linked files themselves as they exist at a precise moment in time. Unlike traditional journaling, which records only the static email and direct attachments, modern journaling solutions are now capable of capturing the contemporaneous version of hyperlinked files, preserving both content and metadata in an immutable archive. This capability ensures a documented, defensible chain from communication to document, even as files continue to be edited or as organizations migrate data between cloud platforms. For law firm IT teams, adopting or upgrading to modern journaling approaches may represent one of the most reliable ways to stay ahead of both regulatory demands and the unpredictable realities of cloud collaboration. The move to cloud-based file sharing is here to stay. By understanding the complex terrain of hyperlinked files and adopting disciplined governance practices, supported by modern automation, IT professionals can securely guide their firms through the compliance challenges of an ever-evolving legal landscape. DAN LEVINE is a Principal Sales Engineer with over 15 years of experience in enterprise compliance, data governance, and ediscovery. He has held strategic presales roles at firms such as Trace3 and Cloudficient, where he has helped Fortune 500 clients modernize their legacy archiving and legal discovery workflows. Dan specializes in bridging the gap between legal and IT to reduce risk and improve operational outcomes.

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