Rule 1.15 of the New York Rules
- The New York Rules of Professional Conduct require licensed New York Attorneys to keep most client records for a Minimum of Seven Years after the date of the events of record.
- You also have a Duty of Professional Care which would require you to preserve certain files because “it would be consistent with the professional responsibility of the attorney to anticipate the potential future needs for such material by the client.”
For Example:
1. Unsatisfied Judgments: File should be retained until judgment is satisfied or can no longer be renewed.
2. Structured Settlements: Should be retained until the settlement is final.
3. Minor Children: Files involving minor children should be retained until the youngest child involved becomes of age plus additional time for the statute of limitations to run.
4. Divorce Files: Should be permanently retained when alimony or spousal maintenance is involved. When minor children are involved, the file must be retained at least until the youngest minor child involved reaches the age of majority, allowing additional time for the statute of limitations to run.
5. Collection Files: Should be retained until paid or if judgment is outstanding.
6. Estate Planning: Files should be retained permanently, including: wills and trusts; pension and profit sharing plans; and tax files; all of which should be treated as vital documents.
- You Will Also Want to Maintain for a Longer Period:
1. Cases in which the statute of limitation for malpractice claims has been tolled or has not yet run. In New Jersey, a lawsuit must be filed within six years of when the malpractice occurred. Statute of limitations for legal malpractice start to run once the Plaintiff knew or should have known that they were actually damaged by the attorney’s negligence.
This determination is fact sensitive, so your files may be very important in determining whether the statute of limitations has run out or not. So you may want to keep it longer than 6 or 7 years to cover yourself and…
2. You should keep any file involving a troublesome client or outcome even longer.
So it seems that there is a 7 year rule, but as you can see, as with many rules, the exception can be bigger than the rule depending onyour practice area.
Follow Us!