Legal
The firm changing tools
Twenty years of case files and a new tool. Whatever does not travel in the migration stops existing for the firm.
Changing tools looks like an IT project and is an archive project. **What is being moved is not data: it is twenty years of clients' case files**, some closed, some live, and all with retention obligations that do not depend on which program you use. The decision about what migrates and what does not will be taken by somebody looking at a quotation, and its consequences will last a decade.
What a migration actually decides
| The decision | How it is presented | What it really means |
|---|---|---|
| Migrate only active matters | Cost saving | Closed ones stop being to hand |
| Migrate the last few years | A middle way | There is a cut-off, and you must know where |
| Migrate everything | More expensive | The history stays whole |
| **Leave the old one «just in case»** | **No cost** | **Lost when it is switched off** |
Important
**The option of «leaving the old system running just in case» is the one most often chosen and the only one that is not a decision.** Nobody sets how long, nobody maintains it, and a day comes when it is switched off over a licence renewal, a retired server or a supplier that closes. That day the entire history is lost, without anyone having decided it and without anyone noticing until somebody looks for something.
What to settle before signing for the new tool
- 1
Exactly what migrates and what does not
Decided on retention grounds, not only on cost.
- 2
How everything gets out of the new tool
Ask BEFORE going in. Afterwards it is a negotiation.
- 3
What happens to the old system and when
With a date. «It stays for now» is not a plan.
- 4
And that retention obligations are preserved
Changing program does not change how long things must be kept.
Watch out
The question to ask before contracting any tool, and almost never asked because it sounds like distrust, is **how you get out of it**: in what format documents come out, whether they come with their structure and metadata or as a flat folder of files, and what it costs. Asking before signing is a condition; asking three years later, when you already want to leave, is asking a favour of someone with no incentive to make it easy.
Worth knowing
What retention, confidentiality and security obligations apply to your clients' files, and what must be guaranteed when changing provider or system, **is determined by professional rules and data-protection law, and settled by your professional body or adviser**. Here we cover the organisational part: how to move an archive between tools without losing years along the way.
›Do I migrate everything or only active matters?
It depends on cost, but also decide what happens to what does not migrate.
›Can I leave the old system running?
Yes, with a date and an owner. Without those, it will switch itself off one day.
›What do I ask before contracting?
How you get out, in what format and at what cost. Before, not after.
A real case
The situation
Only active matters migrate and closed ones stay in the old system.
What you do
- Allows keeping the complete history in one place
What you get
There are not two archives to maintain at once.
The situation
The old system is switched off and nobody had set a date.
What you do
- Keeps the archive outside the tool of the day
What you get
The switch-off does not take the previous years.
The situation
On trying to change, documents only come out as a flat folder.
What you do
- Allows exporting with structure and context
What you get
The archive stays usable elsewhere.
The situation
A matter closed eight years ago has to be consulted.
What you do
- Keeps closed files accessible and searchable
What you get
The history still supports the work.
The situation
Retention obligations get lost in the change.
What you do
- Applies the retention policy across the whole archive
What you get
The period does not depend on the program.
The situation
Nobody knows exactly what migrated and what did not.
What you do
- Records what was transferred and when
What you get
The cut in the history is documented.
This article answers
- migrating case files to another system
- changing document manager in a law firm
- what happens to the history when changing software
- getting my data out of a tool