Hi Chris,

I have worked on many law firm classification file plans and have
found *Records
Management in the Legal Environment* by Jean Barr, Beth Chiaise and Lee
Nemchek to be very helpful.  It even includes in its appendix common folder
titles by Area of Law/Department.  This list can give you a good example to
compare to when you are looking at your law firm's folder titles.  It also
gives great suggestions on indexing numbering systems and other
organizational tools.  This book is available at the ARMA bookstore website:
www.arma.org.

Legal classification plans tend to be different from many corporate file
plans you will find out there as law firms tend to group their client matter
files first by client and then by matter.  Within the matter a law firm
might segregate their record types into different folders (i.e. Attorney
Notes, Pleadings, Correspondence).

Retention is typically enforced at the matter classification level.   A law
firm may have one general retention schedule (i.e. big bucket retention),
which governs most of the client matter files (i.e. Matter Close + 5
Years).  As each matter is closed, the retention period countdown begins.
For matter files with a different retention trigger or period, like possibly
Estates and Trusts or Intellectual Property, additional retention schedules
are created.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Best of luck!

Sincerely,
Nitza Llano, CRM

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