I agree that functional schedules can work for law firms, but because
the bulk of a law firm's records comprise one specific record series -
i.e., client files - it is a better practice in the law firm environment
to schedule by series rather than strictly by function.  What you will
end up with is a schedule that either (1) breaks down client files into
practice areas and assigns retention periods accordingly by practice
area, or (2) a blanket schedule that assigns a retention period to the
entire series of client files (with a few significant exceptions, e.g.,
estate planning, criminal, juvenile, intellectual property, etc.).  In
addition to dealing with the primary client file series, you can then
apply functional schedules to the administrative areas of law firm
practice, including HR, MIS, Information Resources, Accounting,
Corporate, Facilities, Marketing, etc., the same as you would with any
other business.

 

--Lee

 

 

Lee R. Nemchek, MLS, CRM
Vice President, Records Management 
Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.
333 South Grand Avenue, 28th Floor
Los Angeles, CA  90071 

p +1 213 830-6252   f +1 213 830-8504
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
www.oaktreecapital.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Stephen Cohen
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 10:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Records Schedules (html)

 

Functional schedules work for law firms as they do for all other 

organizations. Law firms may not work for functional schedules.
Attorneys 

are pen-ultimate pack rats (No offense to attorneys out there, it's just
a 

plain fact.) And don't expect them to adhere to anything that may 

interfere with or impede their billable hours without strong top tier 

support. I don't think it's that attorneys don't want the benefits of
good 

functional RM, they just don't want to be involved in the work to get 

there and to keep it going. 


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