Adam Herbst wrote: 
" ... the problem that I have always encountered has not been what gets done ... but actually having the departing attorney assist with the departure ..."

Adam, I too feel your pain for the material that remains.  However, I'm less concerned about that than I am about attorneys not complying with our procedures when taking files (our procedure is similar to Bonnie Smith's so I won't include it here).  To combat the issue, I got our Loss Prevention Partner, Managing Partner and COO to understand the risk exposure created by attorneys not participating. 

As a result of my efforts, my firm has started holding "exit" meetings with the attorney and all admin Directors, the COO and Loss Prevention Partner to centrally address HR, Billing, IT and Records concerns.  I am the only non-Director/non-attorney invited to the meeting; I get appropriate floor time to address the attorney directly to set expectations, answer questions, etc.

One thing I want to make clear is that we do not allow ANY client files to leave the building without first receiving a release letter from the client, and that includes electronic material (email, etc.).  We draft the release letter so the language and expectations are acceptable to us and then the attorney sends it to his/her clients to be pasted onto their letterhead, signed, then sent back to us.  It goes through our Loss Prev. Partner first, she forwards it to me and our IT director and all material released is recorded on one spreadsheet.

We do not make them sign an exit statement, however any files that are sent to him/her at their new firm (or that are sent to the client directly) include a folder-level inventory (and SASE) which must be initialed, dated and sent back to us acknowledging receipt of the files.  That way we can avoid the "I don't have it, you have it" argument.

If you want more detail, please feel free to contact me off list. 

Julie 


Julie Colgan
Manager of Records Services
Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
Tel: 404.873.8164
Fax: 404.439.1811
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