Close a Queensland personal injury file without destroying a document

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Key facts

Human involvement
YellowClose supervision
How AI is used
List the documents to return, keep, or propose for destruction, each with the reason the lawyer has written. Destroy nothing. Do not put confidential material into a public tool.
What the lawyer must review
  • Rule 14.1 is return on request, unless there is an effective lien
  • Rule 14.2 is seven years, subject to instructions and legal obligations
  • The tool destroys nothing
  • Confirm the current conduct rules before anything is destroyed
Written for / version
Queensland versionQLDVICNSW

Rules that apply

The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.

The work product

Forum. Queensland, closing a plaintiff personal injury file

Produce. A list of documents to return, keep, or propose for destruction, with the lawyer's reason on each row. Nothing is destroyed.

Have ready. The file index; The reason the lawyer has written for each document.

Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The list marks original photographs to return and a draft note to keep. It does not mark anything as destroyed.

Stop and hand it back when

  • The draft says a document has been destroyed.
  • A row has no reason written by the lawyer.

Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.

Who does what

Who does what
RoleWhat they do
AssistanceList the documents to return, keep, or propose for destruction, each with the reason the lawyer has written. Destroy nothing. Do not put confidential material into a public tool.
LawyerSet the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output.

Checklist

  1. Rule 14.1: on completion or termination, the client or former client, or another person authorised by the client or former client, is given the client documents, or copies if they are electronic, as soon as reasonably possible when requested, unless there is an effective lien.
  2. Rule 14.2, as set out on the Queensland Law Society page: a solicitor or law practice may destroy client documents after seven years from completion or termination of the engagement, except where client instructions or legal obligations say otherwise. The commentary says client consent is best secured. The tool does not destroy anything.
  3. Each row is return, keep, or propose for destruction, with the reason the lawyer has written. A proposal is not a decision.
  4. Queensland Courts say private, confidential, suppressed or privileged information is not entered into a public tool. Whether APP 11 applies depends on whether the firm is an APP entity. The lawyer decides that.

Forms and precedents for this task

Forms and precedents for this task
Form or precedentKindAI useSummary
File retention and destruction scheduleChecklistAI use YellowSchedule 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. All precedents.

Sources

The conduct rules came into force in Queensland on 27 September 2024 and were amended again on 25 September 2026. The amendments were not read rule by rule. The relations page, as scraped on 23 October 2026, sets out rule 14. The lawyer confirms the current instrument before anything is destroyed.

Health, wage and settlement material stays in a firm-controlled tool. Apply ASCR r 9 and APP 11, and consider whether a breach is notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

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