Privileged and Confidential

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Notice of Legal Hold

From the Office of General Counsel

 This notice is intended to advise you that a Legal Hold regarding

$MatterName $MatterID has been issued.

Section 1. Instructions

Step 1:  You must read and understand this Notice of Legal Hold.

Devon’s Legal Department issues this Notice of Legal Hold to advise you of your obligation to preserve and retain records that may be relevant to the matter described below and that are within your possession, custody, or control, including paper and electronic records. If you do not understand this Notice of Legal Hold, please contact the Legal Department immediately. (Section 4)

Step 2:  You must preserve and retain all potentially relevant records. 

Until you receive further notice, this Notice of Legal Hold supersedes any document retention policy or practice permitting the destruction of documents. Devon may be subject to severe penalties if you do not comply with the requirements of this notice. (Section 3)

Step 3:  You must respond to this Notice of Legal Hold within seven (7) days by responding to the verification question at the end of this notice. (Section 6) 

This applies to all individuals receiving this notice even if you are not currently in possession of relevant records, since you may come into possession of relevant records in the future.

Section 2. Notice of Legal Hold Details – Records to Preserve

Matter Name:               $MatterName

Matter Number:           $MatterID

Matter Description:      $MatterDescription

Responsible Attorney:  $MatterAttorney

Responsible Paralegal: $MatterLegalAssistant

Records Defined As:     For purposes of this notice, "Records" include all information, documents, or data of every type, whether in paper or electronic form, including but not limited to memorandum, correspondence, notes, reports, emails, instant messages, text messages, voicemail messages, desk or electronic calendars, phone slips, notes, journals, and logs of a personal or business nature, residing or recorded in any medium or location other than within a person’s memory and in any form (handwritten or typed, draft or final), created at any time.  This includes records in your possession, wherever maintained, whether on your computer, in your office, on your Blackberry, on a flash/thumb drive, in departmental files, in a home office, in your vehicle, or elsewhere.   

Relevant Time Period: [All] OR [start date] to [end date or Present]

Relevant Entity(ies):    Devon Energy [input applicable legacy entities, i.e., Mitchell, Ocean, Pennzoil, etc.]

Records to Preserve:    Records that relate in any way to the Matter Description within the time period covered, including but not limited to any of the following:

[Input list of documents]

Section 3. How to Comply

1.      You must PRESERVE AND RETAIN all records that may be relevant to this matter, whether in paper or electronic form, that are in your possession, custody, or control, regardless of where stored, maintained or located.  DO NOT discard, destroy, delete, alter, or overwrite ANY RECORDS RELATED TO THIS MATTER, even if the information looks as though it could be damaging to the company’s position.  This obligation is ongoing – it applies to all relevant records that you create or receive in the future.

2.      Contact the Legal Department (Section 4) if you are aware of any relevant records that are outside of your control or the control of other Devon staff members, temporary staff, contract workers, or consultants.  For example, if documents related to this matter are saved on a shared network drive or in a company database (and you have a concern that they may be lost or deleted), please contact the Legal Department so the proper steps can be taken in order to ensure their preservation.  Similarly, if you are aware of any external business partners or others who may have access to Devon systems and who may have relevant records, please contact the Legal Department immediately.

3.      If you have any doubt whether any Records qualify as “relevant records,” you must preserve and retain them.

4.      Preserve and retain all relevant records until the Legal Department sends you a “Release of Legal Hold.”

5.      Click here for Legal Hold Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Section 4. Legal Department Contact Information

Questions regarding this Notice of Legal Hold should be directed to $MatterLegalAssistant or $MatterAttorney. This notice and any responses are CONFIDENTIAL and should not be distributed to anyone outside of Devon.  Your communications with lawyers (both inside and outside of Devon) are privileged and confidential.  Please do not discuss the nature or substance of these conversations with others.  If you are contacted by anyone who is not affiliated with Devon or its outside law firm, please do not discuss the matter with them and contact $MatterLegalAssistant or $MatterAttorney immediately.

Section 5. Legal Hold Recipients

Referenced below are the individuals identified for this Notice of Legal Hold.  Please contact $MatterLegalAssistant if you are aware of other individuals who should be subject to this Notice of Legal Hold.

Legal Hold Recipients:

$Recipients

Courtesy Copy Recipients:

$CourtesyCopyRecipients

Section 6. Verification (Response Required)

Please respond by clicking the link provided below to verify that you have read, understood, and will comply with this Notice of Legal Hold.

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