TechnoLAWgically Speaking discusses how advances in office technology can best be used by lawyers.

I am an information technology guy, working for legal professionals, and have been for a really long time. I live in a world of electronic data. The legal profession has made the transition from paper to electronic records but, in my humble opinion, has not generally done a very good job of managing electronic records.

Unlike paper, which takes up space and begs to be filed, electronic records are generally unobtrusive, hanging about quietly on your computer or network and growing and growing until they appear too overwhelming to manage.

I have offered advice on how to manage electronic records, but I’m not a records manager. I have advised the lawyers for whom I work that they should not practice law from their electronic mailbox; e-mail programs are not records management programs. I have suggested that, in the absence of an actual program meant to manage electronic records, they treat their electronic files much as they did paper — even suggesting (years ago) that they print out electronic files to store in the paper record file.

A few years ago I joined ARMA (www.arma.org), which is the largest non-profit association for records and information management professionals. (The Boston chapter holds monthly meetings on many topics related to records and information management along with webinars and other educational programs.) ARMA is not directed solely to the legal profession, but I did learn that lawyers are not the only professionals who are painfully challenged around electronic information management.

Joining ARMA made me realize that, although I am not a records manager, I do, as the IT guy storing and managing the electronic records for my law firm, have a business responsibility to help our lawyers manage their electronic information. So here is an IT guy offering advice about how lawyers should manage electronic files: Treat them like paper.

That does not mean print out paper versions. Clean up your e-mail inbox, sent items, e-mail cabinets and folders. I was once told by an attorney that time spent cleaning up her mailbox was non-billable time and thus time wasted. When I shared that observation with an
employment law partner at my firm, she retorted: “Properly managing client files, in whatever format, is the obligation of the attorney and should be considered in the context of service to the client and not as time wasted.”

Learn to segregate your client/matter information into sub-folders, if you do not have a document-management system, and in e-mail and into cabinets (for Outlook users) so that you have easy access to specific client information. Purge extraneous material, especially after the matter or case is closed. Extraneous matter in a closed case may be the numerous internal messages you have exchanged with colleagues and administrative personnel while pursuing the matter and any other material you would not normally put into a paper client file.

In matters that may be serviced by multiple attorneys, it is important to appoint a custodian of the records to make sure that the client file is complete. Keep in mind that not every attorney working on a matter needs to keep duplicative electronic information once a matter has closed. The custodian or custodians can create and maintain the final electronic file on the matter, and all others can purge the information from their systems. Determine who should have ownership of the records, and follow up to make sure there are not multiple copies of the client files.

Remember, this advice does not refer to any litigation matters or any matters in which litigation is anticipated.

Henry B. Chace is chief information officer at the firm of Burns & Levinson in Boston.