The Nebraska Supreme Court’s ethics committee has released an advisory opinion permitting attorneys to destroy physical copies of a client’s closed file so long as it is preserved in electronic form. However, the opinion advises that before a physical file may be digitized and subsequently destroyed, attorneys should consider: Shred
- the availability and cost of physical and electronic storage space,
- ease of access to documents,
- the potential need for original documents in future litigation,
- preservation of client confidentiality, and
- any other considerations that are pertinent to the contents of that file.
The advisory opinion was issued in response to a legal services organization’s question regarding whether digitally storing scanned images in lieu of physical storage would satisfy the Nebraska Rules of Professional Conduct, which require attorneys to preserve client files for a period of five years after termination of representation. However, the rules do not indicate whether lawyers are required to preserve those files in physical form. With the release of this opinion, the ethics committee has clarified that with the new advances in technology, it is no longer reasonable OR practical to keep physical or paper copies of every client’s files and thus allowed for the digitizing of files.
Find the full opinion here.
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