What happens to a solicitor’s company emails when they move company?

[Tumbleturn68]

When a solicitor moves to a new company what happens to their emails (Outlook) when they leave that company. Is it normal for these to be archived for a period of time by their firm or are they deleted? Is there a legal requirement for solicitors firms to keep their former employees’ company emails/info for a defined period of time? For example, if a will writing solicitor moved to a new firm would their emails and other work-related info need to be archived upon their departure?

[atticus]

I would expect the emails to be kept by the old firm in accordance with their document retention/archiving policies.

[Tumbleturn68]

Thank you for that.

Would you expect such a firm, an established firm dealing with wills and all forms of probate matters, to have such a policy?

Would it be unusual for that firm to indicate that they have removed the solicitor’s Outlook from their system, intimating that the emails/info have not been retained? This being less than a year following the solicitor’s departure from their firm? The solicitor, and presumably firm, were on notice of a potential contentious probate issue just prior to the solicitor’s departure, with information potentially contained within the solicitor’s Outlook. Would it be unusual for such information to have been deleted?

[atticus]

I wonder if you are asking the right questions. I would expect the communications to have been retained in one form or another, even if Outlook has been deleted.

[Tumbleturn68]

Thank you

[ULA]

It also depends if they have a case management system as all communications including emails should be saved to the specific client matter.

[Tumbleturn68]

Thank you