Legal companies might just accrue more paperwork than companies that operate with any other single sector. However, much of this paperwork they will not keep for long. While document records management policies will dictate that they keep and file some documents, there are many documents that come out of a legal office which will be destroyed at some point in time. Many people have an incorrect association with the notion of shredding important documents, and assume it is a way of hiding secrets. In fact, the opposite is often true, and the shredding of documents is about protecting privacy rather than hiding unlawful acts.
Every citizen’s information is their own. This is a basic truth that is part of the very complex set of privacy laws which govern the information which belongs to private citizens. This means that even when they choose to allow you access to certain types of that information, or provide it to you, it still belongs to them, not you. That means if you information in your possession that belongs not to you, but to that individual, you must protect it for them, or you could be held liable for failing to do so.
Legal firms obviously need to obtain a great deal of private information from people during the course of their business. Even when they need that information for a purpose though, and it is freely provided to them, it never belongs to them. Therefore, they must at some point consider shredding it so that it is no longer their responsibility to provide security over that provided information.
Most legal firms will hire a company to come to their location and destroy all their documents for them when they decide the time is right. This is a better option for several reasons. Primarily, it provides them with much better security, as they can be assured firsthand that the documents are all being destroyed in an appropriate manner. nnWhen a company comes to their location to shred documents, they will usually be required to sign an NDA to protect all that information even further.
Beyond the protection of information, cost is also a factor in paper shredding. If not destroyed, all that paperwork needs to be either filed, or stored in some capacity. Both of those services cost money, and are ongoing expenses, as opposed to document destruction, which will only cost the company money once.