An important issue to consider for lawyers thinking of winding up a law practice is what to do with the old files. Many speakers at law office management seminars suggest that attorneys and firms develop guidelines and policies to prevent the problem of a retired, disabled, disappeared or dead lawyer leaving thousands of files for her or his successors, heirs or assigns to deal with. But it’s a policy often honored more in the breach than the observance.

Assuming, however, that you suck it up and decide to finally dig into the archives and start to reduce the volume, what do you give back, what do you keep and what do you chuck? I think there are four considerations.