Law Practice Essentials

It is difficult to decide when it is appropriate to close a file. At a minimum, you must determine that all the work required on the file has been completed and reported upon, and that no potential future updates need to be put in place other than possible file destruction reminders. Once you have decided it is appropriate to close a file and remove it from your active records, you can strip certain documents from the file before it goes to storage, but you must be systematic.

Remember that you must determine which part of the file belongs to the client. You, as the client’s lawyer, can make a copy of parts of the file for your own purposes that belong to the client which you are returning to the client but you cannot charge the client for this.

<9.4 Purposes of File Retention - Statutory Requirements and Future Needs

9.6 Closing Files - File Stripping>