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Before moving legal matter files, verify the records and context in scope, retention and legal holds, access restrictions, auditability, search and usability, and a tested reconciliation plan. Keep the source system available until the destination has been checked and accepted. These checks help prevent a transfer that appears complete but loses metadata, permissions, or records lawyers still need.
Start by defining what counts as a matter file
Build an inventory before selecting a migration method. Include active and closed matters, documents, email and other associated records, source locations, offline or legacy copies, and the links that connect records to a matter or to one another. Capture matter identifiers and the metadata staff need to find, understand, and use each record.
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Context matters as much as file counts. ABA Standard 5.5, which applies in the context of legal-aid organizations, describes case files as recording material facts and transactions, a detailed chronology of work, and a planned course of action. Use that as a useful completeness prompt, not as a rule that automatically governs every firm. Read ABA Standard 5.5 on case files.
Set retention, holds, and disposition rules before copying
For each record category, establish how long it must be kept, whether a litigation hold or other freeze applies, and whether any records are eligible for authorized destruction. Check whether the source system’s retention periods extend beyond its planned retirement. Migration should not silently reset a retention clock, shorten a required period, or allow a held record to be deleted.
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For federal agencies within its scope, 36 CFR § 1236.20 addresses associating records with schedules and disposition instructions, applying holds or freezes when required, and other recordkeeping functions. It is a useful checklist for a private firm, but does not by itself make the regulation applicable to that firm. The firm’s own professional-conduct duties, client agreements, privacy requirements, court obligations, and retention rules should be assessed with counsel and records or privacy leads. See 36 CFR § 1236.20.
Map confidentiality and permissions to the destination
Document current matter-level and document-level restrictions, then map them to the new platform’s access model. Test representative users and matters, including restricted or especially sensitive files. Check whether external sharing is possible, who can authorize it, and how client-consent policies apply.
ABA Standard 5.5 advises legal-aid organizations to align case-file retention and information-sharing policies with ethical and legal responsibilities, including whether and how client information may be shared externally with informed consent. Firms outside that standard’s scope still need to evaluate their own confidentiality obligations. ABA Standard 5.5 on case files.
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Ask what the platform logs and protects
Establish which events the target records, who can change or delete records and metadata, how access and location changes are logged, and whether the logs can be retained and reviewed. Confirm that unauthorized access, modification, or deletion can be prevented or detected, and that the firm can retrieve useful evidence if a record is questioned.
Federal agency recordkeeping rules call for appropriate audit trails and controls. Rhode Island’s electronic-records rule is a more specific state example: it addresses logging actions that change access, alter a record, or change its location. Neither source establishes that the same legal requirements apply to every private firm or jurisdiction. 36 CFR § 1236.20; Rhode Island electronic-records rule, 100-RICR-50-00-2.7.
Verify search, retrieval, and continued usability
Test whether lawyers and authorized staff can locate and open migrated records using matter numbers, names, dates, document types, and relevant metadata. Check that relationships and context needed to use a record survived the move, and that files remain readable in formats the destination supports.
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For agencies within their scope, federal rules address electronic search and retrieval, access, usable record formats, and migration planning. Section 1236.14 also calls for keeping relevant metadata linked to records through migration. Those provisions offer practical evaluation criteria even where they do not govern a firm. 36 CFR § 1222.26; 36 CFR § 1236.14.
Run a controlled migration and reconcile the results
Agree on the scope, metadata mapping, exception process, and acceptance criteria before moving production records. The criteria should reflect the firm’s risk and be documented; the cited rules do not set a universal sample size or checksum threshold.
- Record the baseline: export or otherwise document source inventories, counts, metadata, relationships, access restrictions, holds, and retention settings relevant to the migration.
- Map and pilot: test how records and metadata will be represented in the destination, including exceptions such as unsupported formats or missing fields.
- Compare inventories: reconcile source and destination counts and investigate omissions, duplicates, failed transfers, and mapping exceptions.
- Inspect representative records: open files and check metadata, matter associations, links, permissions, search, holds, audit evidence, and disposition behavior.
- Resolve and document exceptions: assign owners, remediate issues, and record what could not be transferred or verified before requesting acceptance.
Rhode Island’s rule provides a state-specific example requiring source records to remain until migration is complete and the destination is deemed reliable and secure. Confirm whether that rule applies to the organization; regardless, retaining the source through verification is a prudent safeguard. 100-RICR-50-00-2.7.
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Retire the source only after sign-off
Have a responsible owner accept the reconciled destination and unresolved exceptions before decommissioning the old platform. Preserve the mapping and reconciliation evidence as appropriate, and confirm who owns ongoing retention, access reviews, and disposition in the new system.
Plan for the destination’s eventual replacement as well. Federal agency rules call for migration planning when records must outlast a system and for relevant metadata to remain linked to records. A firm can use the same questions to avoid making today’s platform a future access bottleneck. 36 CFR § 1236.14.
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If evaluating more than one candidate, ask each vendor for evidence against the same criteria rather than relying on general claims:
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- Matter-level controls, document-level restrictions, and external sharing.
- Searchable metadata, preserved relationships, and retrieval workflows.
- Audit and integrity controls, including what events are logged and how logs are exported or retained.
- Retention schedules, holds, and authorized disposition.
- Supported formats and continued usability for the required retention period.
- Migration mapping, exception reporting, and export capability.
- Documented migration and security controls, including how a failed or incomplete transfer is handled.
These criteria support due diligence; they do not establish that any named platform meets them. Request documentation and test the actual configuration with representative records and user roles.
Determine which rules apply to your firm
The cited federal regulations state requirements for agencies and do not alone establish obligations for private law firms. ABA Standard 5.5 is guidance for legal-aid organizations, while Rhode Island’s rule is a jurisdiction-specific example. Identify the firm’s applicable professional-conduct, confidentiality, client-contract, privacy, records-retention, court, and litigation-hold obligations with the appropriate legal and records or privacy advisers before setting migration and disposal rules.
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