Hi Adam,

Great questions and a very interesting challenge. If you are a Records
Manager, which I am assuming, let me preface my advice by saying that you
should ALWAYS run everything by your firm's general counsel or partner in
charge of retention.

If you have a retention policy in place, you should adhere to the tenets of
it. As you may know, conflict checks and other files from the point of
engagement have a long tail when it comes to retention. The ten years from
MC generally does not apply. As such, I would air on the side of caution
and keep conflict records from the 80's & 90's. You can decommission your
system so as to not incur continuing charges but you should transfer over a
record of those conflict checks.

Hope this is helpful!

Alexander Campbell
Records Manager
Cohen & Gresser LLP


On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 12:03 PM, Adam White <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The firm I work at is in the process of switching our conflict database.
> The
> question that was posed was for closed files how long back should our
> conflict database include.
>
> For instance when a matter is closed, the file whether physical and/or
> electronic is saved for 10 years, after which it is destroyed of properly.
> With this in mind if we had a client for a single case or multiple cases
> with the last matter closing 15 years ago, a conflict check will have this
> client appear, however the firm is no longer is possession of any material
> due to retention policies. Is it necessary to have in our systems the names
> of clients for cases that were closed in the 1980's? or even the 90's when
> we no longer represent them or have any trace of their file left?
>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
> To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already
> present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the
> message.
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
>

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]