---
title: "Close the personal injury file and decide what is returned, kept or destroyed"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/close-the-personal-injury-file-and-decide-what-is-returned-kept-or-destr"
type: "task"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-ST20261023-10"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Close the personal injury file and decide what is returned, kept or destroyed

> In a firm-controlled tool, list the documents to return, the documents to keep, and the documents proposed for destruction, each with the reason the opened guidance gives. The tool does not destroy anything.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/close-the-personal-injury-file-and-decide-what-is-returned-kept-or-destr  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | In a firm-controlled tool, list the documents to return, the documents to keep, and the documents proposed for destruction, each with the reason the opened guidance gives. The tool does not destroy anything. |
| What the lawyer must review | The lawyer decides what is returned, kept or destroyed, and confirms any consent before a hard copy is destroyed. The lawyer checks whether an Australian law or a court order requires the record to be kept. The lawyer reads the seven-year sentence in the instrument that binds the firm before applying it. |
| Written for / versions | 3 jurisdiction versions below |

## Checking plan

**Line-by-line review**

Decide return, retention and destruction against the opened guidance, and keep health records out of any public tool.

- What the AI does: In a firm-controlled tool, list the documents to return, the documents to keep, and the documents proposed for destruction, each with the reason the opened guidance gives. The tool does not destroy anything.
- What the lawyer does: The lawyer decides what is returned, kept or destroyed, and confirms any consent before a hard copy is destroyed. The lawyer checks whether an Australian law or a court order requires the record to be kept. The lawyer reads the seven-year sentence in the instrument that binds the firm before applying it.
- Who reviews: Responsible lawyer with competence in the matter
- Basis: Practical workflow informed by the linked primary sources; the traffic light and working checks are editorial guidance, not a court classification.
- Why: The level reflects what the work is, the consequence of an error, and how much of the output the lawyer must independently re-derive.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. Mark sealed orders, original agreements and anything of evidentiary value as keep, on the Victorian Legal Services Board page, and check the equivalent obligation in the other states before destroying.
2. Apply a seven-year period only as the opened guidance states it, and only after the lawyer reads the rule that binds the firm.
3. Record the client's consent before any hard copy is destroyed earlier than the period the lawyer adopts.
4. Keep the closure list in a firm-controlled tool. Practice Note SC GEN 25, Practice Note SC Gen 23, and the Queensland courts page each warn against a public tool.

## Notes

- These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.
- Health, wage and capacity records stay in a firm-controlled tool. The lawyer checks confidentiality under the conduct rules that bind the firm, whether the firm is an APP entity, Australian Privacy Principle 11 on security and destruction, and whether a loss would be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). The serious-harm threshold page was not opened.
- The notifiable-data-breach threshold was not opened. The lawyer decides whether a loss of the health records would be notifiable.

## Sources

- [Law Institute of Victoria: File ownership, retention and destruction guidelines](https://www.liv.asn.au/download.aspx?DocumentVersionKey=73dcb2c9-df65-41b1-8dc7-8ef86840a5bf) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner: going digital, record keeping](https://lsbc.vic.gov.au/lawyers/practising-law/running-law-practice/going-digital-record-keeping-guidance) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner: confidentiality](https://lsbc.vic.gov.au/lawyers/practising-law/professional-obligations/confidentiality-and-its-exceptions) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [OAIC: Australian Privacy Principle 11 guidelines](https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-11-app-11-security-of-personal-information) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Supreme Court of Victoria Practice Note SC GEN 25](https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/areas/legal-resources/practice-notes/sc-gen-25-the-use-of-artificial-intelligence-by-court-users) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015, current table of contents](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2015-0244) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Supreme Court of NSW Practice Note SC Gen 23](https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/documents/Practice-and-Procedure/Practice-Notes/general/current/PN_SC_Gen_23.pdf) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Queensland Law Society: Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules](https://www.qls.com.au/practising-law-in-qld/ethics/australian-solicitors-conduct-rules) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Queensland Courts: using generative AI](https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/going-to-court/prepare-for-court/representing-yourself/using-generative-ai) (checked 2026-10-23)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [File retention and destruction schedule](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/confidentiality-and-client-information/firm-file-retention-destruction-schedule.md) | Checklist | Yellow | Schedule for keeping, returning or destroying a closed plaintiff injury file, using the client-documents rule opened for New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and the separate privacy duty. |

Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one.

## Jurisdiction versions

| Jurisdiction | Level |
| --- | --- |
| [Victoria](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/close-the-personal-injury-file-and-decide-what-is-returned-kept-or-destr/victoria.md) | Yellow |
| [New South Wales](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/close-the-personal-injury-file-and-decide-what-is-returned-kept-or-destr/new-south-wales.md) | Yellow |
| [Queensland](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/close-the-personal-injury-file-and-decide-what-is-returned-kept-or-destr/queensland.md) | Yellow |

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*