Illustrative plan · Updated November 2026 · Southern New Hampshire
A law firm file closeout plan: six steps from closed box to certificate
This law firm file closeout plan takes a small New Hampshire practice from a storage room of closed matters to a signed Certificate of Destruction and a destruction log. It is an illustrative plan built on New Hampshire Bar Association guidance and our own prices, not the story of any real client.
$20 per banker’s box at 10 boxes or more. Certificate of Destruction on every job.
- $20 per banker’s box at 10+
- Since 2007
- BBB A+ rated
- Witnessed sessions by appointment
Quick answer
A law firm file closeout plan has six steps: inventory the closed files, check each against a retention period, notify clients and pull original documents, choose witnessed shredding or a pickup, hand the boxes over, and record everything in a destruction log with the certificate attached. In New Hampshire, the Bar Association’s ethics committee says no rule fixes a retention period for most client files, but trust account records must be kept six years from final distribution under Supreme Court Rule 50. New Hampshire Document Shredding prices a closeout at $20 per banker’s box at 10 boxes or more, plus $34.90 per job and a zone fee for pickup, as part of its law firm shredding in New Hampshire service.
Why a law firm file closeout plan starts with the ethics rules
Lawyers ask us one question more than any other: how long do we have to keep closed files? In New Hampshire the honest answer is that, for most files, no rule gives a number. The New Hampshire Bar Association’s Ethics Committee addressed this directly in Advisory Opinion #2015-16/05 on client file retention, and its reasoning shapes every step of the plan below.
No fixed period, with one exception
The opinion says files “must be retained for a period sufficient to avoid prejudice to the client’s interests” and that they “need not be retained forever.” The exception is money. Under Supreme Court Rule 50(2)(B), records of client funds must be kept for “six (6) years from the date of final distribution.” Everything else turns on the lawyer’s judgment about each file.
Confidentiality in disposal
That opinion also says that “In disposing of a file, a lawyer should protect the confidentiality of the contents,” pointing to Rule 1.6(a). A recycling bin behind the building does not meet that standard. Cross-cut shredding with a certificate does, and so does a witnessed session when a partner wants to see it done.
The opinion adds three working rules that the plan builds in. Before destroying a file, the lawyer should review it and remove original documents. The client “should be notified and afforded an opportunity to retrieve it.” And the firm should keep “an index or identification of the files that the lawyer has destroyed or disposed of,” possibly for an extended time. It also warns against relying on boilerplate destruction policies in place of a file-by-file look.
We are a shredding company, not your ethics counsel. This plan reflects published New Hampshire Bar guidance as of November 2026. Decisions about specific files belong to the responsible lawyer, and the Bar’s Ethics Committee publications and your malpractice carrier are the right places to test a close call.
The illustrative firm behind this plan
To make the steps concrete, we use an illustrative firm. It is a composite, not a client, and every number about it is an assumption chosen to show the math. The prices are our real prices.
The practice
Three lawyers in a southern New Hampshire office, doing family law, real estate closings, estate planning and some civil litigation. One paralegal doubles as the records manager.
The backlog
About 20 banker’s boxes of closed matters in a back room, plus a handful of boxes holding old trust account ledgers, deposit slips and bank statements.
The goal
Free the room, keep what the rules and good judgment say to keep, destroy the rest securely and finish with a record that answers any later question about a specific file.
In the plan, the paralegal spends the first two weeks on the inventory and retention check, the client letters go out in week three with a 30-day reply window, and the boxes leave the office in week eight. That pace fits around client work. A firm under a lease deadline can compress it, but the notice period is the part not to cut.
Your firm will differ. A solo practitioner might have six boxes. A firm with a long real estate practice might have two hundred. The steps stay the same, and the cost scales with the box count, which is why we show prices at several sizes.
Step 1: Build the inventory before you touch a shredder
Start with a spreadsheet, not a shredder. One row per closed matter, built from the boxes themselves and checked against your practice management system. The inventory becomes the backbone of everything else: the retention check, the client letters, the box list for handover day and the destruction log at the end.
Assign the work to one person. In our illustrative firm that is the paralegal, with one lawyer signing off on each batch. Spreading the job across the office is how files get missed or shredded twice.
Label every box with a number that matches the spreadsheet. Do not write client names on the outside of the box. A number on the side is enough, and it keeps a box parked by a door from advertising whose divorce is inside.
| Inventory column | Why it matters later |
|---|---|
| Box number | Ties the spreadsheet to the physical box on handover day |
| Client name and matter | Needed for the client notice and the destruction log, never on the box itself |
| Practice area | Drives the retention period in Step 2 |
| Date closed or last service | Starts the retention clock |
| Originals present (yes or no) | Wills, deeds, settlement agreements and other originals must be pulled before destruction |
| Trust account records (yes or no) | Rule 50 financial records follow the six-year rule |
| Holds or open issues | Any litigation hold, malpractice notice or open collection stops destruction |
| Responsible lawyer | The person who authorizes destruction, a field the destruction log needs |
Expect surprises. Old boxes often hold the original of something important, an old laptop or a stack of CDs. Pull any electronic media into a separate bag as you go. It cannot go through the paper shredder, and it is quoted separately through our hard drive destruction service.
Step 2: Check each file against a retention period
With the inventory in hand, assign each matter a keep-until date. The Bar Association’s Ethics Corner article on file retention offers suggested periods by practice area and a general guideline of at least six years after the matter ends. These are suggestions, and the article stresses that “The retention period for client files always lies within the lawyer’s professional judgment.”
| Practice area or record | Suggested retention (NH Bar Ethics Corner, Appendix 1) |
|---|---|
| Trust account and client funds records | 6 years from final distribution (Supreme Court Rule 50, a requirement) |
| General guideline for most matters | 6 years after conclusion of the matter |
| Child support or alimony | 6 years after payments end per the final decree |
| Custody | 6 years after the youngest child reaches the age of majority |
| Documents under seal | 10 years |
| Real estate transactions | Abstracts, surveys and chain of title indefinitely, all other documents 10 years |
| Estate probate matters | Tax basis information indefinitely, other documents at least 6 years after the estate is settled |
| Estate planning, adoption, title documents, trust deeds | Indefinitely |
| Structured settlements | Life of the client |
| Tax matters | Consult IRS and NH Department of Revenue Administration requirements |
Criminal defense files have their own benchmark. The ethics opinion cites the Public Defender’s practice of keeping misdemeanor files for 2 years and felony files for 5 years, measured from the end of representation or completion of the sentence, whichever is longer.
Tax material in client files follows the IRS clock. The IRS says to keep records 3 years in most cases, 6 years when unreported income is more than 25 percent of the gross income shown, 7 years for a worthless securities or bad debt claim, and indefinitely if no return or a fraudulent return was filed. Your firm’s own employment tax records need at least 4 years after the tax is due or paid.
In our illustrative firm, the paralegal sorts the inventory into three piles: past its date and ready for notice, not yet due, and keep indefinitely. Only the first pile moves on to Step 3. Write your periods into a short written policy so next year’s closeout is a filter, not a debate. Our page on a records destruction policy shows what one looks like.
Step 3: Notify clients and pull the originals
The ethics opinion is clear that clients own their files and should get a chance to take them back before destruction. The Bar’s file retention article includes sample closing letters that tell former clients the file will be destroyed unless they ask for it by a set date. The samples give 30 to 60 days to respond, and a proposed guideline sets a minimum of 30 days.
Ordinary files
Send each former client a short letter to the last known address. Name the matter, the date the file will be destroyed and how to request it. One sample in the Bar’s article reads: “Unless we hear from you by that date, we will assume you do not want the file and it will be destroyed.” Log the date each letter went out.
Original documents
Signed originals and documents that confer legal rights need more care. The Bar’s guidance says no such documents “should be destroyed until the client or owner is mailed written notice” at least 60 days in advance. Pull wills, deeds, settlement agreements and stock certificates into a separate, locked location.
Build engagement letters that make this easier next time. The Bar’s article calls retention language in the engagement letter “a best practice,” as long as it does not override the lawyer’s later judgment. A sentence telling clients how long the firm keeps files, and that the firm may keep them longer if needed, saves a round of letters a decade from now.
Some clients will ask for their files. Copy or deliver them, note it in the inventory, and remove those rows from the destruction list. If a scanned copy will be kept, the opinion confirms that electronic retention is permitted, so scanning before shredding is a reasonable choice for files you want to keep without the paper.
Step 4: Choose witnessed shredding or a pickup
Once the notice period has run, the remaining boxes are ready. Every option ends in cross-cut shredding at our office at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, and a Certificate of Destruction. The difference is who moves the boxes and whether a lawyer watches.
| Option for 20 large boxes (about 600 lb) | How it is priced | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Drop-off at Tewksbury | 20 x $20 + $34.90 | $434.90 |
| Zone 1 pickup (border towns such as Salem, Pelham, Windham, Plaistow) | $400 + $129.95 + $34.90 | $564.85 |
| Zone 2 pickup (greater Nashua and Manchester) | $400 + $159.95 + $34.90 | $594.85 |
| Zone 3 pickup (the Seacoast and points farther north) | $400 + $199.95 + $34.90 | $634.85 |
| Split: 18 boxes by Zone 2 pickup, 2 boxes witnessed | $554.85 + $154.30 (two jobs) | $709.15 |
| All 20 boxes witnessed | 600 lb x $1.99 + $34.90 | $1,228.90 |
For most firms the split is the sweet spot. Send the routine closed matters by pickup, and book a witnessed session for the two boxes a partner wants to see destroyed, such as files released from a litigation hold or a sensitive family matter. Watching everything costs nearly three times the drop-off price for no added protection on routine paper. Our post on when you need witnessed shredding runs through the cases where watching earns its rate.
Pickup details live on our off-site shredding page, and the session itself is described on our witnessed shredding page. Zones for towns outside the examples above are confirmed when you book.
Step 5: Run handover day without loose ends
Handover day is short if Steps 1 to 4 were done properly. The goal is that every box leaving the office matches a row on the list, and nothing on the list stays behind.
- Seal and stage in a locked roomTape every box shut the day before. Keep them behind a locked door, not in a hallway or by the loading door where clients and vendors pass.
- Print the box listBox numbers only, with a count. Client names stay on the master spreadsheet in the office.
- Match boxes to the listFor a pickup, the paralegal counts boxes onto the cart with our driver. For a witnessed session, the attending lawyer brings the list to Tewksbury and checks each box as it goes into the shredder.
- Keep the extras separateMedia goes in its own bag with its own count. Anything still under a hold stays in the office.
- Get the job referenceNote the date, the job and the box count. These go straight into the destruction log in Step 6.
You do not need to strip files before they go. Staples, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands and file folders can stay in. Do remove three-ring binder hardware, hanging-folder frames and anything that is not paper. Our shredding pickup checklist covers access, parking and stairs, and our guide on how to prepare documents for shredding answers the binder questions.
Drop-off paper is shredded the same business day it reaches our counter. Pickup material is shredded after it arrives at the Tewksbury office. Book pickups by appointment, and plan the date so the boxes are not sitting in a staging area longer than a day or two.
Step 6: File the certificate and close the destruction log
The last step is the one firms skip, and the one that matters most if a former client calls in five years. The Bar’s file retention article recommends that firms “maintain a destruction log of any client files destroyed as a permanent record of the firm.”
What the log records
According to the Bar’s guidance, the log should include the client’s name, a description of the files destroyed, the person who authorized destruction, the date, whether an outside vendor was used and the vendor’s name.
What the certificate adds
Our Certificate of Destruction is the proof for the job, issued for every pickup, drop-off and witnessed session. Attach it to the log entries for that batch so each row points to proof.
Where to keep both
With the firm’s permanent records, not in the paralegal’s desk. A scanned copy on the firm’s server plus the paper original is a sensible pair.
Our page on the certificate of destruction shows what the document covers line by line.
Make your law firm file closeout plan a yearly habit
The first closeout is the hard one. After that, the same six steps run on a calendar and take a fraction of the time, because the inventory already exists and the retention dates are in the spreadsheet.
Pick a month
Choose a quiet month and run the closeout every year. Pull every file whose keep-until date passed in the last twelve months.
Batch the letters
Send all client notices at once, with one response deadline. Thirty to sixty days later, the batch is ready to go.
One job, one set of fees
Every job carries $34.90 in per-job fees. One annual pickup costs less in fees than four small drop-offs through the year.
Mind consumer reports
Files holding credit reports fall under the FTC Disposal Rule, which names lawyers among covered businesses. Shredding meets it, as our post on the FACTA disposal rule explains.
Mistakes that turn a closeout into a problem
- Shredding by date alone. A box closed in 2015 can still hold a will original or a file under a malpractice notice. Review each file, as the ethics opinion asks.
- Skipping the letters because “nobody ever asks.” The one former client who does ask is the one who matters, and the notice record is your answer.
- Mixing trust account records into general closed files. Rule 50 records follow their own six-year clock from final distribution, so keep them in their own boxes.
- Leaving staged boxes in a hallway or garage for weeks. Seal them, lock them up and book the pickup for a date close to when they are packed.
- Losing the certificate. Without it, the destruction log says what you meant to do, not what was done.
Day-to-day paper is a separate stream. Drafts, copies and notes that never belonged in a client file should go into a locked shred box at each desk, emptied on a schedule. Our post on Manchester law office shredding covers that routine for offices in the city, and the same approach works in any New Hampshire town.
Frequently asked questions
How long must a New Hampshire law firm keep closed client files?
For most files, no New Hampshire rule sets a fixed period. The NH Bar Association’s Advisory Opinion #2015-16/05 says files must be kept long enough to avoid prejudice to the client but need not be kept forever. The exception is client funds records, which Supreme Court Rule 50 requires for six years from final distribution. The Bar’s Ethics Corner suggests at least six years for most matters.
Do we have to tell former clients before we destroy their files?
The ethics opinion says the client should be notified and given an opportunity to retrieve the file. The Bar’s sample letters give 30 to 60 days to respond, and its guidance calls for mailed written notice at least 60 days ahead before destroying signed originals or documents that confer legal rights. Keep a record of when each letter went out.
Is this plan based on a real law firm?
No. The firm in this plan is illustrative, a composite we use to show the steps and the math. It is not a client, and no client names or results are described. The rules and guidance come from published New Hampshire Bar Association material, and the prices are New Hampshire Document Shredding’s current rates.
Should a law firm use witnessed shredding for closed files?
Usually only for a few boxes. Witnessed shredding costs $1.99 per pound with a $100 minimum, compared with $20 per banker’s box at 10 or more boxes by drop-off or pickup. Most firms send routine closed files by pickup and book a witnessed session for files released from a legal hold or a sensitive matter a partner wants to see destroyed.
What should a destruction log include?
According to the NH Bar’s file retention guidance, the log should record the client’s name, a description of the files destroyed, the person who authorized destruction, the date, whether an outside vendor was used and the vendor’s name. Attach the Certificate of Destruction for each batch and keep the log as a permanent firm record.
Can we scan files and shred the paper?
The ethics opinion confirms that electronic retention is permitted. Many firms scan files they want to keep and shred the paper. Before you do, pull signed originals and documents with legal effect, such as wills and deeds, which need their own handling and notice. Old computers and drives that held client data should be physically destroyed, quoted per item.
How much does a 20-box closeout cost?
At $20 per banker’s box at 10 or more boxes, plus $34.90 in per-job fees, 20 boxes cost $434.90 by drop-off at our Tewksbury office. A pickup adds $129.95 in Zone 1, $159.95 in Zone 2 or $199.95 in Zone 3. Witnessing all 20 boxes, about 600 pounds, would cost $1,228.90. Call (978) 636-0301 for a quote.
Do we need to remove staples and folders before shredding?
No. Staples, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands and file folders can stay in the files. Remove three-ring binder hardware, hanging-folder frames and anything that is not paper. Bag CDs, USB sticks and old drives separately so they can be quoted and destroyed on their own. Less sorting also means fewer people reading client files.
Sources
- New Hampshire Bar Association, Ethics Committee Advisory Opinion #2015-16/05, Client File Retention (checked November 2026)
- New Hampshire Bar Association, Ethics Corner, File Retention Guidelines (checked November 2026)
- FTC, Disposing of Consumer Report Information? Rule Tells How (checked November 2026)
- IRS, How long should I keep records? (checked November 2026)
Book your firm’s closeout
Tell us the box count and which boxes a lawyer wants to watch. We will schedule the pickup or the witnessed session, shred everything at our Tewksbury office and send you the certificate for your destruction log.
Visit or call
1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Route 38 near the I-495 interchange, about 15 minutes south of the NH line. Free parking out front.
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Witnessed sessions and pickups outside these hours by appointment.
Three ways to shred: walk-in drop-off at 99¢ per pound, pickup by zone, or a witnessed session at $1.99 per pound.
New Hampshire Document Shredding · 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876 · (978) 636-0301 · Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.