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Secure Your Boston Legal Office with These Tips

If you work at a law firm or are a practicing lawyer in the Boston area, chances are that you understand the importance of confidentiality. You likely also understand the importance of adhering to relevant federal laws including FACTA and HIPAA. While many lawyers recognize the relevance and importance of adhering to these laws, it isn’t always evident in their document destruction practices. What’s more, it’s not always evident that every law firm has a document retention and destruction policy that seeks to fulfill client confidentiality.

Law firms in particular have a lot to be concerned about regarding confidentiality, and ensuring all practices within the firm maintain such confidentiality. Implementing a proper document destruction and retention policy is the first step to making such assurances.

At A1 DATASHRED, we suggest the following

 

• Assign an employee or group of employees to manage the plan: Having a group that oversees the process is most ideal, as it provides an opportunity to improve internal control.

 

• Coordinate with your IT department / ensure you know what data is backed up and what is not. Understanding what is already in the backup system and what isn’t, provides an excellent starting point to determine what actions, if any, need to happen before implementing the process, as well as how to design the process.

 

• Review and understand all privacy legislation: Make 100% sure that you are aware of what can be destroyed, what should be retained, and for how long this is to be the case.

 

• Establish guidelines for shredding documents: For example, what happens to the old Will when a new Will is written and becomes probate?

 

• Communicate the policy. All of these tips are only useful if every employee in the firm is aware of the policy, its rules and procedures.

When it comes to document shredding there are some realities that have to be recognized. In-house shredding machines simply don’t do a good enough job for most businesses, let alone legal firms. Most in house machines don’t shred documents adequately enough for them to be irreversible. Additionally, tossing the paper remnants into the recycling bin or trash can is dangerous since the waste is considerably easy for someone to get to.

So what is the ideal answer to alleviate destruction concerns? Use a dedicated shredding provider. Here are a few reasons why:

• A1 DATASHRED employs certified staff and maintains a highly secured work environment to ensure destroyed documents don’t end up in the wrong hands.
• Our machines destroy documents into an irreversible state. A1 DATASHRED shredders cut both horizontally and vertically, leaving fibers instead of strips.
• Industrial-grade shredders are expensive to operate and maintain (trust us). Bringing in a dedicated provider is often a more cost-effective solution.

If your Boston legal office is seeking document destruction advice, or would like to learn more, don’t hesitate to contact us. 1-978-858-0200

December 22, 2017