22-07-2018, 11:25 PM
John: Apparently this is governed by the Law Society of Ontario for dealing with client papers. In Wisconsin, a trustee could be appointed to review them, but I'm not sure about Canada.
You should be able to rely on the labeling of the files as personal or client papers as was probably done by Bloomfield. There doesn't seem to be any time limit for keeping cleint papers. Apparently it theoretically has to be in perpetuity, if they are client papers.
There is a specific exception (which seems to be true in other jurisdictions) for evidence of criminal conduct. If the court suspects that there is evidence of criminal conduct in the files, then that is specifically excluded from either lawyer-client privilege or client confidentiality laws regulating the practice of law.
Keep us informed.
James Lateer
You should be able to rely on the labeling of the files as personal or client papers as was probably done by Bloomfield. There doesn't seem to be any time limit for keeping cleint papers. Apparently it theoretically has to be in perpetuity, if they are client papers.
There is a specific exception (which seems to be true in other jurisdictions) for evidence of criminal conduct. If the court suspects that there is evidence of criminal conduct in the files, then that is specifically excluded from either lawyer-client privilege or client confidentiality laws regulating the practice of law.
Keep us informed.
James Lateer