Records and Information Management
This domain tests the file from opening to destruction: what is kept, for how long, who may see it, and how it is destroyed. Examiners like questions where a firm wants to clear storage or where a former client asks for their papers.
File lifecycle
- Opening: conflict check, customer due diligence, engagement letter, file index and reference.
- During the matter: correspondence in date order, attendance notes, court processes, drafts clearly marked as drafts, chronologies, and a note of every telephone call of substance.
- Closing: closing memo, final account, return of original documents where appropriate, and a retention decision recorded.
Retention periods
Retention is driven by limitation under the Limitation Act 1972 (NRCD 54): six years for contract, three years for tort and twelve years for land. Add an appeal or enforcement margin. Wills and original title documents are held pending instructions and should not be destroyed. Financial and client account records need a defined period, commonly at least seven years, so a taxation or audit can be answered.
Confidentiality and access
Files must be segregated per client, physically and digitally, with access on a need-to-know basis. The client is entitled to the file and to original documents, subject to a proper lien for unpaid fees. Requests for personal data must be handled within the statutory period under the Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843).
Worked example
A firm wants to destroy the file on a conveyance completed in 2013. Reasoning: the twelve-year limitation period for land runs to 2025, and stamping or registration queries can resurface after that. The original indenture is the client's property. The firm should keep the file until at least 2028, inventory the originals held, keep a scanned master copy, and record the eventual destruction in a log signed by an authorised person.
Traps that cost marks
Destroying a file because a scanned copy exists when the original belongs to the client. Misfiling one client's document onto another's file, which is a confidentiality breach. Destroying documents while an appeal or taxation is pending. No destruction log, so the firm cannot prove what happened.