P2P

45 I L T A N E T . O R G clients and will likely use this to approach each of your clients with a standard data release or transfer document that they'll ask the client to complete and send to you. It's on receipt of these formal client transfer requests that the firm needs to start the off boarding process. Administering client mobility Law firms are obligated to pass on all client materials on receipt of proper authorization from the information owner (the client). However, this is less straightforward than it might first appear. The first question to be answered is, "Does the client owe us money?" If the answer is "Yes", the firm needs to use discretion on how to proceed. Which in turn poses the question: "What processes are in place to ensure the right decisions are being taken at the right level?" The next step is the retrieval or extraction of the client's material. This will likely reside in both electronic and physical media. The former will probably be in several different repositories and systems including a document management system (DMS), File Shares, Outlook, Microsoft 365 and Teams. It's also the case that some material might be hard to access. For example, even when the firm has a DMS, sometimes lawyers don't like it and don't use it, necessitating some more searching to ensure that everything is being retrieved. Meanwhile physical records can take several forms – videos, photographs, blueprints, audio tape recordings, and paper files and folders. They can reside in the firm's office, or in the basement, or are perhaps distributed among several offices, nationally or internationally, or in off-site warehousing or archives. All physical and electronic materials must be gathered and made available for appraisal. The appraisal process is about deciding which materials will be sent on, copied, destroyed, retained or culled. The appraisal should include all the materials that relate to active matters and recently concluded matters, but the firm ought also to have a retention and disposition policy that ensures that when materials reach a predetermined age – depending on jurisdiction or other factors, including OCGs – they are securely destroyed. The firm should also be checking on specific retention requirements, preservation of litigation holds or pending destruction orders. Materials must then be sifted to remove all billing information, including engagement letters and anything else confidential to the firm or competitively sensitive, including information on matter management. Firms should also excise emails exchanged internally about the client. All content should be examined to ensure the removal of anything with the potential to embarrass the firm, including bad language or derogatory remarks. Bear in mind that however this appraisal process is conducted, it's worth structuring it in systems that are as user friendly as possible for the lawyers doing the review. "All physical and electronic materials must be gathered and made available for appraisal."

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