Hi all,

A new client has in their contract that I must delete all documents of the company when the contract ends. I've always kept my site notes and audit/inspection reports in hard copy for five years as good practice to refer to if I'm ever called to give evidence.

Am I being too over the top by keeping records beyond a contract? Is it right that I should delete all my records of a client when I no longer work with them?

Advice/debate welcome.

Thanks

Does your insurance cover legal costs for the client suing under breach of contract? As in many posts on these forums if the client is paying, and it is not illegal, the client gets.

Perhaps this question would have been more timely asked before you signed up to the contract - you could then have discussed how you like to work in relation to their data deletion request for example adding a minor caveat confirming that five years post contract termination the records would be destroyed.

Whilst appreciating these are records you have made, they are by virtue of the contract the clients property.

Which is the stipulation contained within the contract or the non-disclosure agreement (NDA)?

A lot of businesses tend to fire off NDA's without due consideration of what they are hoping to achieve by using them. Normally they are to protect the development of intellectual property or sensitive commercial activity where a third party could gain advantage by becoming aware of the transferred information.

I am not aware of a current regulatory stipulation to keep notes for x years "just in case" of a court appearance so that is a failed argument. It may be best industry practice but that is as far as can be said.

Hi Self and Hasty

Have you signed the NDA and Contract? If not perhaps time to reconsider whether you want to continue working for the client even if it means losing 2 weeks of payments. Might be much cheaper than getting legal advice.

What do your insurers require, particularly as regards Professional Indemnity Insurance? If you comply with your client's demands you might find that your PII is null and void in the event of a claim. 

It is likely that much of what you write might be your intellectual property, but this is heavily dependent of the terms of appointment.

Peter makes a pertinent point regarding consultant (rather than employee) intellectual property.

https://www.shoosmiths.co.uk/insights/articles/who-owns-what-when-it-comes-to-intellectual-property-12423

Last paragraph shows it is a case of "the terms of engagement".

Originally Posted by: Roundtuit

I am not aware of a current regulatory stipulation to keep notes for x years "just in case" of a court appearance so that is a failed argument. It may be best industry practice but that is as far as can be said.

It may very well be required by your insurer - in a slighlt differnet (but similar) field ours requires we keep records, and where a client writes in a 'delete everything' clause to a contract we always propose an emendment tacking on something like "...save that the Consultant may retain one copy of the Confidential Information if required to do so by law, or for insurance or governance purposes".  Otherwise, the situation could arise where the client requires that you delete all the records, then brings a claim against you, and you have no records on which to base a defence to the claim.

Interestingly, it's insurer that drives the requirement to keep all records, and it's when I'm acting for an insurer or lawyer that I'm most likely to be asked to sign up to delete all records, return all hard copies etc.