Closing a file: the last hour that pays for itself

Most firms are better at opening files than closing them, because opening one comes with a client and closing one comes with nothing.

The result is a matter list where a third of the entries finished long ago, and every report drawn from it misleads.

An open file that has ended distorts the figures

Work in progress reports, matter counts, capacity planning and fee earner workload all read the open matters.

A partner deciding whether the firm can take more work is looking at a number that includes matters nobody has touched since autumn.

Trust money has to leave before the file does

Money held in trust at the end of a matter belongs to somebody. Every jurisdiction sets out how a practice accounts for it and returns it.

A closing routine that checks the trust balance first prevents the worst version of this: money sitting in trust for a client nobody contacts.

Bill the last piece of work

Unbilled time at the end of a matter gets written off by default, because nobody wants to send a small bill months later.

Billing it at closing, while the work is recent and the client remains happy, recovers fees the firm otherwise donates.

Return what belongs to the client

Original documents, titles, wills and executed agreements belong to the client, and holding them creates an obligation the firm carries indefinitely.

Returning them at closing, with a record of what went where, ends that. Anything the firm keeps needs a reason and a location.

Write the closing letter

A letter confirming the matter has ended, what the firm holds, and that the retainer is over removes a great deal of later ambiguity.

It also prevents the client who rings eighteen months later assuming the firm has been watching their limitation period.

Diarise anything with a future date

A renewal, a review date, an option exercise or a limitation period may outlive the matter by years.

Those belong somewhere the firm will see them rather than in a closed file, and the client should know which ones they own.

Retention periods start at closing

Retention obligations generally run from the end of the matter, so a file that never formally closes never starts its clock.

Recording the closing date is what eventually allows a firm to destroy a file lawfully rather than storing everything forever.

Ask for the review while they are pleased

A client at the end of a successful matter is the most willing referrer a firm ever has, and most firms say nothing.

A short request at closing, with a direct link, collects the reviews that later clients read while choosing.

Record what the matter actually cost

The hours, the disbursements and the final fee together describe whether that kind of work is worth doing at that price.

Our guide to reviewing work in progress covers catching that while the matter runs rather than afterwards.

Make closing a routine, not a decision

A matter with no activity for ninety days is either finished or stalled, and both deserve somebody's attention.

A monthly list of those, reviewed by whoever supervises, closes the finished ones and rescues the stalled ones.

Keep the client relationship open

Closing a file ends a retainer. It does not end the relationship, and clients frequently believe otherwise.

The closing letter is the place to say the firm would be glad to help again, which costs a sentence and works for years.

What to change first

• A closing routine checks the trust balance first
• Unbilled time reaches an invoice at closing, rather than a write off entry
• Original documents return to the client, with a record
• A closing letter confirms the retainer has ended
• Future dates move somewhere the firm will actually see them
• The closing date records, so the retention clock starts
• A monthly list surfaces matters with ninety days of no activity