Are you a solicitor? Do you have the responsibility of safekeeping clients’ valuable information and documentation? Could you be sued if you misplaced or damaged these valuables?
Losing or damaging sensitive or private documentation, or allowing the information contained within those documents to fall into the wrong hands could leave you facing a high financial loss and taint your reputation.
The duty of confidentiality in the Code of Conduct requires you to keep all clients’ information (including files of papers) confidential. You should not be release information from a file without the client’s consent or unless required to do so by the law. Losing a client’s documents means that you will have put their information at risk and potentially broken your duty of confidentiality.
Your duty of care not only relates to protecting documents from theft or prying eyes, but also to keeping them safe from damage or destruction. If your office or home were to be affected by fire or flooding there is a very strong possibility that all paperwork, your firm’s and your clients’, would be destroyed.
When documents disappear, it can cause a whole host of issues to arise. It could result in:
- A missed limitation date.
- Inability to take a case (back) to court.
- A case being lost or damaged as a result of a solicitor failing to obtain evidence.
This all falls under professional negligence.
If you are a solicitor, you will know that a professional negligence claim can be made against you if your professional negligence has caused your client to suffer a financial loss.
In terms of missing documents, the Legal Ombudsman has the power to order you to refund fees, to return documents or to pay compensation. If the case goes to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), they have the power to impose fines or even to close your firm.
So why take the risk?
Instead of taking sole responsibility for your client’s documents by storing them at home or in your office, use a safe deposit box. Swansea Safe Deposit is a secure, police endorsed facility designed to protect valuables within a six-sided vault with 24/7 security.
There is no better way to store valuable items. Not only is our Safe Deposit facility theft proof and fireproof, but we also provide insurance for boxes so that in the unlikely event of a disaster, you would have zero responsibility for anything lost or damaged.
Our clients choose from a range of safe deposit box sizes; pay a small monthly fee; have single-sole access to the box (unless a second user is required) and have complete discretion when accessing its contents.
We are open six days a week (Monday to Saturday: 9am to 5:30 pm) and allow clients unlimited access to their box during these hours.
For more information about our safe deposit box and insurance policies visit https://swanseasafedeposit.co.uk
