Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California

There is no law that requires record retention (with the caveat that if they're estate planning documents, they should be kept almost in perpetuity because of the nature of the matter. Original bankruptcy files must be kept for a length of time, too). The records belong to the client, however. It would be wise for an attorney to offer them to the clients once the matter is closed. There are state bar ethics opinions that suggest retention for several years.

With the new technologies, many attorneys are imaging the records and are destroying the paper once the matter is concluded.