| Summary: | Despite the importance of lawyers as persons within the legal system, their
activities have not been well-represented in the documentary heritage of society as
preserved in archives. The primary reason behind this situation is the principle of
solicitor-client privilege, which traditionally protects the lawyer-client relationship
from disclosure. The privilege has not only barred the archival acquisition of and
access to client files for research purposes but has also apparently prevented any in depth
study of the records lawyers create.
This study attempts to shed light on the records created by lawyers and their
possible disposition. First, the thesis uses the concepts of diplomatics and an
analysis of the historical development of lawyers to categorize their work. The
functions it defines include maintaining a legal practice, contributing to the
profession and providing legal services to clients.
The thesis then examines the central function of providing legal services by
analyzing an actual lawyer’s fonds and comparing it with related records in court
registries. This analysis illustrates how lawyers records fall both into functional
categories and diplomatic phases. It also reveals that, contrary to certain observers,
few of the documents in the lawyer’s file appear in the court registries and even
fewer are preserved in archives as a result of records management decisions by the
registries. These findings provide grounds to consider archival appraisal of lawyers’
records. First, it is argued that concerns about solicitor-client privilege need not
inhibit preservation and access to lawyers’ records in archival institutions. With this
impediment removed, archivists can proceed to acquire the fonds of lawyers on a
selective basis both among and within fonds. In terms of appraisal for selection,
certain records resulting from the activities within the functions of maintaining a
legal practice and contributing to the profession are worthy of permanent
preservation and have no access restrictions on their use. For the function of
providing legal services, a statistically-valid sample of these case files should be
preserved to illustrate this aspect of a lawyer’s work. However, it is vital that
lawyers and archivists must work together on finding mutually acceptable policies
that both respect the privacy of clients and allow access to the record of legal
practice for future generations. === Arts, Faculty of === Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of === Graduate
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