Introduction

In October 2017, the Bar Council produced guidance relating to changes in data protection regulation. They advised Barristers that to comply with their new regulatory requirements, they must implement and adhere to strict data retention policies appropriate for, and applicable to, any case received.

The guidance suggested such policies should set default retention periods and clearly define the case endpoints from which the data retention periods would commence. It stated that systems needed to be put in place to monitor retention periods, and where reached, ensure that facilities were available to ensure personal data was reviewed, deleted, or marked for further review after a designated extension period. Procedures, both to assist barristers in deleting the data which they store in LEX and for deleting personal data stored externally in other applications, also needed to be considered.

LEX 10 introduces a new Data Retention Assistant module, which places LEX at the centre of chambers data retention and monitoring policies/procedures. The module includes:

• The facility to set a system default (or Barrister BMIF Area Specific) retention periods, which will automatically be applied to cases.
• The ability to manually amended retention periods on a per case/barrister basis, if deemed necessary.
• A mechanism to identify cases that should be marked as ‘Closed’ (based on pre-determined criteria) and to retrospectively apply appropriate ‘data retention dates’ to those cases (the date up to which data should be retained).
• A new data retention report that allows users to monitor cases that are nearing their retention dates and those where the system believes it is time that data needs to be deleted. This report includes hyperlinks that will open listed cases and allow users to quickly make alterations to the reported retention period/dates.
• The facility to delete all case document data, assuming all criteria is met, which can be triggered manually within each individual case, or in bulk straight from the data retention report screen.
• A place for Barristers to log that they have deleted data outside of LEX 10 to demonstrate full compliance with data protection regulations.

Minimum System Requirements:

Chambers must have LEX 10 version 10.001.070 (or above) to access the Data Retention Assistant features.

Costs:

Free to all LEX users.

Process Summary:

The features described in this document complete a three-step process; from the closure of a case through to the deletion of case documentation.

Each step has a clear aim and outcomes that are easily achievable.

Together, they could form part of Chambers Data Retention Policy.

Data Retention Assistant System Options:

Default Chambers Retention Period

LEX – System – System Options – Data Retention - Options

The LEX 10 upgrade process automatically sets Chambers ‘Default Retention Period’ to ‘7’ (years). 

There is no strict guidance as to what this value should be and it is likely it will vary based on the type of law practised predominately in Chambers. Should this value need amending, please contact our support team for advice and assistance.

Barrister Specific BMIF Areas of Practice – Data Retention Option

LEX – Search – Barristers and Clerks – Select Barrister – Options

Case Level Data Retention Options:

Case level data retention options can be access from two places within a case record:

NOTES:

1. The ‘Years’ value shown in the summary section of a case relates to the barrister currently selected on the case record.
2. Barrister Type users will only be able to access the Data Retention Popup via the cog icon if they do not have full case editing privileges. 

The ‘Data Retention’ popup, accessible via the menu/summary options, contains a row representing each active Barrister on the case record.

The following options appear when the ‘Retain?’ flag is set:

Closing Cases / Data Retention Dates:

The ‘Data Retention Date’ for each Barrister on a case is automatically calculated (based on the data retention years) when the matter is set to ‘Closed’ status.

The option to set a case to ‘Closed’ status will only appear where the following conditions are true:

• The total of ‘outstanding amount’ + ‘outstanding vat’ on the case must equal £0.
• The total of ‘unassessed amount’ + ‘unassessed vat’ on the case equal £0.
• The total of ‘unbilled amount’ + ‘unbilled vat’ on the case must equal £0.
• There must be no unassessed fees on the case
• There must be no future dated appointments (NOTE: today counts as future dated).
• There must be no existing paperwork on the case with any of the following statuses:
  1. Outstanding
  2. In Progress
  3. Waiting On Others
  4. On Hold

Closing Cases Using the New ‘Close Cases’ Report:

We’ve added a new report to LEX 10 called the ‘Close Cases’ report. This report gives users a way of closing cases without having to go into each case individually. If you cannot see the ‘Close Cases’ report in the LEX – Reporting menu, please contact support for assistance.

The report uses the same conditions listed on page 6 of this guide to determine whether a case is eligible to be closed. Users can generate a list of cases which meet the conditions based on either the ‘date the case was created’ or ‘the date of last work done’.

When the report is generated, users are presented with a list of cases LEX believes are eligible for closure:

Users can review the cases if required using the hyperlinks provided. Once satisfied the cases can be closed the tick boxes on the right-hand side, or the ‘Select All’ option, can be used to select those cases. The ‘Process’ button can then be used to automatically change the status of the selected cases.

NOTE: The ‘Data Retention Date’ will be set by this process, as it would be if manually set within each case.

The system will confirm when all selected cases have successfully been processed and set to closed status:

Archiving Case Documents:

LEX 10 includes a new 'document archive' feature, which can be used as an intermediate step to secure data during the period between the beginning and end of a cases data retention period. This new feature allows users to zip & encrypt the entire contents of a case file and move it to a separate designated backup archive drive.

For added security, LEX 10 also contains controls around who can/can't retrieve archived documents.

The document archiving features are available within individual cases that are set to ‘closed’ or ‘archived’ status. In addition to the manual case options, we’ve also added a document archive report which identifies cases that may be suitable for document archiving and allows users to run the process in bulk from the report itself.

Encrypting and archiving data whilst waiting for the appropriate deletion date to arrive is an ideal way to minimise risk.

NOTE: This process does not archive documents held within ShareFile. This is only for docs within the LEX folder structure.

Setup:

These actions will require the assistance of Bar Squared Support

Before documents can be archived, an archive location needs to be specified in system options:

The report itself also needs to be made available to users via ‘General Security Options’, and possibly also in ‘User Profiles’.

Case Archiving Options:

The case archiving options are only available where a case is set to ‘closed’ or ‘archived’ status. They are currently also only available to ‘Clerk’ type users (not Barristers).

NOTE: Please contact Bar Squared Support to add/remove users from this system option.

Case Document Archiving Report:

Case documents can also be archived using the new ‘Case Document Archiving’ report. If you cannot see this report in the LEX – Reporting menu, please contact support for assistance.

Cases that are ‘Closed’ or ‘Archived’ (or both together) can be selected from the report options. Users can also filter the report based on the date of case closure:

Similarly, to the ‘Close Cases’ report, the system will present users with a list of cases which satisfy the above criteria (i.e. case status and case closed date), which have case documents that are currently NOT archived.

Users can review the cases if required, using the hyperlinks provided. Once satisfied the documents in the cases can be archived, the tick boxes on the right-hand side, or the ‘Select All’ option can be used to select the cases. The ‘Process’ button can then be used to archive the documents and the system will notify users of the success or failure of the process.

****WARNING****

Zipping, encrypting, and move documents in high volumes (number or size of files), WILL affect system performance. If your Chambers has many cases which require document archiving (which certainly in the first instance is highly likely), we advise a ‘phased’ approach to using this feature (i.e. running the process in batches). Running the process on many 100s of cases simultaneously may have serious adverse effects to the performance/stability of your system. To clear your initial backlog, we advise that you start with a small number of cases (perhaps 25) and assess the impact. 

Bar Squared is not responsible for the misuse of any system process operated against our explicit advice.

Automated Case Archiving:

Cases that are set to ‘closed’ status can be automatically set to ‘archived’ using system options available in LEX (assessible via LEX – System – System Options – Automated Archiving Settings – Case Archiving Options).

***WARNING****

We do not recommend enabling the ‘Archive Case Documents’ option until a complete run through of the archiving process has been performed on existing closed cases (to remove likely significant large amount of historic data). Doing otherwise, could cause your overnight processes to fail due to time out of processing.

Permanent Deletion of Case Documents:

When the documents within a case have been archived an additional option to ‘Delete Archives’ becomes available:

Case Data Retention Deletion Report:

The Bar Council guidance requires that Barristers (as Data Controllers) are given the tools to manage the deletion of data. LEX 10 introduces a new report accessible via LEX – System – Reporting – Case Data Retention Deletion, that Barristers can use to permanently remove documentation from within LEX.

When the report is generated, the user is presented with three separate report tabs:

Report Section 1: Ready For Deletion

For a case to fall into this category, the following criteria must be true:

- Where the data retention date has passed, or it is today, for all active Barristers, AND

- The case documents have been previously archived, AND

- There are no data retention flags (for any active Barrister), AND

- The case is set to ‘closed’ or ‘archived’.

This example shows a case which meets the ‘Ready For Deletion’ criteria.

From here, the hyperlinks on the left can be used to access the matter and double check that it is appropriate to continue to delete the information. Deletion can be manually undertaken from within the case record, or by selecting the case on the report screen using the tick box provided on the right and selecting the ‘Delete Data’ option towards the bottom right.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although actioned by one Barrister, the deletion that occurs applies to ALL case documentation in its entirety (i.e. ALL Barrister and Shared Access Folders, including the Document Root). This means one Barrister can and will be deleting information that may reside in other Barrister document folders. 

Why has this been allowed?

• There are safeguards:
  1. A Barrister will NOT be able to delete case documentation IF any single other Barristers on the case has a future data retention date on that matter. The case will be flagged in the ‘Held’ report below, so the Barrister concerned about data could approach the clerking team or other individuals on the case to discuss more selective deletion, if required.
  2. A Barrister will NOT be able to delete case documentation where any other Barrister has flagged specifically for the data within the matter to be retained.
• The presumption is that if the data retention dates for all Barristers have past, and no retention flag has been raised, there is no reason why the data cannot be removed. This can be dealt with via Chambers Policy, and as explained above, the measures are in place should any Barrister on a case wish to stop this action from happening.
• If a Barrister could only delete their own data in their own folders, they could not guarantee the removal of data from folders that they did not have access to (such as Shared Access Folders). This feature removes this concern.
• We’ve also considered the fact that cases can move quickly between members, some of whom have very little physical involvement in a case. Forcing ALL members on a case in LEX to ALWAYS have to have direct input into document deletion would simply not be a practical solution for Chambers.

Report Section 2: Held

For a case to fall into this category, the following criteria must be true:

- The data retention date has passed for the selected Barrister, BUT not for ALL, OR

- The case documents have not yet been archived, OR

- The matter has a retention flag (for ANYONE) 

This section of the report allows members to see cases that have passed their own retention date but which for some reason, cannot be deleted (i.e. another member has flagged the case for retention, or has a data retention date in the future).

The report allows for an opportunity for members to start dialog between clerks/other individuals on the case, around the subject of data deletion in any one case.

Report Section 3: Upcoming

For a case to fall into this category, the following criteria must be true:

- Where data retention date is up-to three months in the future.

This section of the report gives members vision of cases that will shortly be eligible for deletion. This opportunity means they can review the list of cases, flag any for retention (if required), and begin any process of removing data stored externally of LEX (i.e. emails or other document management systems/PCs).

What do deleted docs look like in LEX:

When documents are deleted using the process described above, they are permanently removed from the server disk. However, the file/folder details are still visible in the documents tab in LEX for reference purposes. Chambers could therefore prove that a document ‘did’ exist, but will not be able to retrieve the content.