Before I Send Legal Work Out, I Like to Know How It Will Be Handled

When I send a factum, court book or other sensitive material to an outside vendor, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it. But I do like to understand how the work will be handled.

Inside the office, we get used to our own routines. We know where files are stored, who is working on the matter, who should receive certain documents and where completed materials are supposed to go.

When a print vendor becomes part of that workflow, the path simply gets a little longer.

That is not something I see as alarming. It is just part of working responsibly with outside vendors.

For me, privacy and confidentiality in legal printing come down to understanding that path and making sure both sides know what is expected.

I Treat Confidentiality Like Any Other Important Job Instruction

When I send an appeal book or application record to print, there is already quite a bit to communicate.

Which PDF is final?

How many copies are required?

Which pages are colour?

Where do the tabs go?

How should the books be bound?

When are they needed?

Where are they going?

Confidentiality fits into that same conversation.

For many jobs, there may be nothing unusual to add. The vendor follows its normal process and I provide the normal production instructions.

Other matters may need something more specific.

Perhaps the completed boxes should only be released to a named courier.

Perhaps the firm has a particular file-retention requirement.

Perhaps the client requires the work to remain at one production location.

If something matters to the file, I would rather include it at the beginning than assume everyone already knows.

Privacy and Confidentiality Aren't Quite the Same Thing

I tend to think about them a little differently.

Privacy makes me think about the information itself: how files containing personal or sensitive information are transferred, used, retained and eventually removed when they are no longer needed.

Confidentiality makes me think more about access and purpose: who needs the information to complete the work and how the documents are handled while they are in someone else's care.

In practice, the two overlap.

I do not need to become a privacy specialist to work with a print vendor. But if that vendor is regularly handling court records, affidavits, exhibits or other sensitive material for the firm, I think it is reasonable to understand the basics of how the work moves through their operation.

The PDF Is Only Part of the Story

Secure file transfer often gets most of the attention because it is the part we see.

Upload the PDF. Confirm that it arrived. Done.

Except legal printing is still a physical production process.

A large application record might need to be checked, printed double-sided, divided into volumes, tabbed, Cerlox bound, quality checked and boxed.

And production is rarely made up only of the perfect pages that end up in the finished books.

A colour exhibit may need to be rerun.

A sheet might be damaged during finishing.

A tab could be inserted incorrectly.

A revised affidavit might arrive after the first version has already been printed.

Or counsel may replace pages 145 through 162 across six copies shortly before delivery.

Those removed or discarded sheets can contain exactly the same confidential information as the finished books.

That is why I think it is useful to know how a print vendor handles misprints, superseded pages and other confidential production waste.

It is a part of the workflow most customers never see, but it tells you quite a bit about how the work is managed.

Some Matters Simply Need a Few Extra Instructions

Most jobs can follow the printer's usual process.

Occasionally, a matter has additional requirements.

A client may have its own confidentiality agreement.

A larger organization may have a vendor questionnaire.

There may be a data-retention requirement or specific delivery instructions.

And if another production provider is ever required, the firm may want to understand how that would be handled before the work moves outside the vendor's normal workflow.

None of those questions need to be confrontational.

I actually find a straightforward explanation of a vendor's normal process much more useful than a broad statement such as:

“Don't worry, your files are secure.”

If I understand the process, I can decide whether the matter needs anything different.

A Few Things I Like to Understand

I would not ask all of these questions every time I send a print job.

But if a printer is becoming part of the firm's regular legal workflow, I think these are useful things to know:

• How should confidential files be transferred?

• Where is the work normally produced?

• How are misprints and replaced pages handled?

• If another production provider is ever required, how is that handled?

• How are completed materials released for pickup or delivery?

• What normally happens to production files after the job is finished?

• Can special confidentiality, retention or delivery instructions be accommodated?

The idea is not to turn every order into a vendor audit.

It is simply useful to know there are clear answers when one of those questions becomes important.

Good Vendor Relationships Usually Come Down to Clear Expectations

Legal assistants work with outside providers all the time.

Printers. Couriers. Filing services. Process servers. Storage providers.

Each of them may become part of the workflow around a matter.

I have always found that the easier vendor relationships are the ones where neither side has to guess.

We already do this with deadlines, copy counts, tab instructions and delivery.

Privacy and confidentiality deserve the same kind of clarity.

When I send legal work out, I do not need to know every step happening behind the scenes. But I do want to understand enough of the process to know where the work is going, how it is being handled, and what I need to communicate if a particular matter has additional requirements.

That is really the point.

Not more paperwork. Not more worry.

Just fewer assumptions.

For more on preparing and sending court materials for production, see our Legal Printing page.