When a lawyer’s representation ends, what documents must be surrendered to the client? Washington State’s Advisory Opinion 202401 (2024) revisits this common question under Rule 1.16(d)—and provides some of the clearest, most detailed guidance yet. See Wash. State Bar Ass’n, Advisory Op. 202401 (2024).
Building on a prior advisory opinion, see Advisory Opinion 181, the opinion reaffirms that “the client’s interests must be the lawyer’s foremost concern” and presumes that the client is entitled to the entire file, in whatever form it exists—paper, email, text, or voice recording—unless a narrow exception applies.
What Clients Are Clearly Entitled To
Lawyers must provide all materials that could foreseeably protect or benefit the client. These include:
- Documents the client provided;
- All external communications (emails, letters, texts) with opposing counsel, co-counsel, or third parties;
- Court filings, pleadings, and orders;
- Executed or ready-to-execute transactional documents;
- Corporate records and legal opinions;
- Discovery materials, due diligence documents, and third-party reports.
The only exception is when disclosure would violate a court order or third-party confidentiality obligation.
What Clients Are Typically Entitled To
Even materials once considered “internal” are now presumptively part of the client’s file if they may have value:
- Both external and internal drafts should be produced if they could help the client or successor counsel.
- Legal research, memoranda, and case analyses should be provided unless they expose confidential information about another client.
- Notes that contain factual information belong in the file; notes containing purely subjective impressions may be redacted.
- Internal memos and emails including substantive communications or analyses prepared while advancing the client’s matter should be turned over, though purely administrative emails (e.g., scheduling) may be excluded.
Note that internal notes, drafts, and memoranda are not excluded simply because they were created for internal use. Rather, notes containing factual information must be produced, while purely subjective impressions may be redacted or omitted only if withholding them would not prejudice the client.
What Clients Are Not Entitled To
Some materials belong to the business of law, not the practice of law for a specific client. These include:
- Conflicts checks, intake forms, staffing notes, billing drafts, or internal firm management documents;
- Materials containing confidential information about other clients;
- Ethics consultations, whether with firm counsel, outside counsel, or a bar hotline.
These are not part of “the client’s file” because they do not advance the client’s objectives in the representation.
Louisiana Connection
Louisiana’s Rule 1.16(d) mirrors Washington’s in requiring lawyers to “take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests,” including surrendering papers to which the client is entitled. Louisiana disciplinary authorities have taken a similarly expansive view: lawyers must promptly return client papers and property upon termination and may not condition release on payment of fees.
Conclusion
The opinion underscores a functional, client-centered approach: if a document could “foreseeably have value in protecting the client’s interests in the instant matter or a future one,” it should be surrendered. Put simply, when in doubt—give it. The cost of over-inclusion is minimal compared to the risk of violating Rule 1.16(d) or facing a disciplinary complaint over withheld documents.
