Great attorneys ask the most revealing questions. They direct them to clients, witnesses, juries, and judges to uncover facts, lay bare inconsistencies, and shape cases.
And sometimes, they must ask questions of themselves, even ones that are seemingly trivial on the surface.
If you’re an attorney who’s ever stared down boxloads of old case files, invoices, and legal documents that are no longer bound by a retention period, you’ve likely posed the question, “How am I going to get rid of all these?”
“Do I let sleeping case files lie and address this another time?”
“Do I ask the office administrator to figure it out?”
“Do I hire a paper shredding company to take care of this?”
Beyond questions of logistics, legal document disposal also has deeper ramifications. The decisions you make define what you really believe about your practice.
“How much is my reputation worth?”
“What am I doing to preserve client confidentiality?”
“Am I taking records management seriously?”
Lawyers don’t pass the bar, run a practice, or serve as a prosecutor by being sloppy. They appreciate that diligent research, mastery of the minutiae, and sound judgment are required to handle caseloads. Steel City Shredding possesses those same qualities when it comes to secure document shredding for Pittsburgh-area attorneys and law firms.
Making a claim like that puts the burden of proof on us, so here’s why our legal document shredding services are the prudent choice for legal professionals.
The Most Secure Legal Document Shredding Service
Just as attorneys specialize in a given field (criminal defense, estate planning, personal injury, etc.), Steel City Shredding’s expertise is in secure document shredding.
We are not an office supply store or shipping and delivery chain that happens to offer paper shredding. Mobile, on-site paper and hard drive shredding are what we do every day. We know the industry inside and out, providing you with an unmatched level of service.
NAID AAA Certified
Steel City Shredding’s i-SIGMA NAID AAA Certification authenticates our compliance with all known data protection laws. That includes:
- Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA): mandates secure disposal of consumer information by companies
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA): legislation that stipulates patient health information (PHI) must be kept confidential by covered entities and their business associates
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA): federal law requiring financial companies to disclose their information-sharing methods and protect sensitive data
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): European Union law that governs the protection of EU citizens’ data (applicable to businesses operating globally)
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS): security requirements for businesses that process transactions or transmit credit card information.
i-SIGMA is the premier industry trade association for secure data destruction and information management. Steel City Shredding earned the NAID AAA certification by undergoing scheduled and random, unannounced audits by accredited third-party evaluators.
Accredited auditors review our employee background screening and training, compliance with written procedures, accessor controls, operational security, destruction equipment, and confidentiality agreements.
When attorneys work with Steel City Shredding, they know exactly who they’re dealing with: a secure legal document shredding service provider that stands up to the highest level of scrutiny.
The Most Convenient Legal Document Shredding Service
While customers are always welcome to bring their legal documents to our Penn Avenue location in Pittsburgh for shredding, we also encourage them to take advantage of our mobile, on-site shredding service.
Our Steel City Shredding mobile shredding truck will arrive at your law firm or storage location and securely shred all your legal documents, hard drives, and e-waste on site. You’re also free to watch the shredding process. Upon completion, we’ll provide you with an official certificate of destruction.
Whether you need a one-time purge for a periodic clean-out or a scheduled shredding service at more regular intervals, we’ll come to you.
This eliminates unnecessary travel and avoids the time-consuming process of loading and transporting legal documents. That way, you can focus on your caseload and clients while increasing staff productivity.
The Most Versatile Legal Document Shredding Service
Our industrial strength shredders securely destroy more than just paper documents. Steel City Shredding can dispose of many physical and specialized media:
- Hard drives
- Solid state drives
- Laptops and computers
- Cell phones and tablets
- Servers and networking equipment
- USB drives and storage media
- CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs
- Floppy disks and zip disks
No matter the document or hard drive type, we’ll shred them into indiscernible pieces so that no sensitive data can ever be recovered.
The Most Cost-Effective Legal Document Shredding Service
Steel City Shredding’s competitive pricing places it among the most affordable mobile shredding services for attorneys.
We pride ourselves on transparency and can ensure zero hidden fees. When you examine our reviews, clients will often note that their invoice was exactly what was quoted. While that may seem standard, not every shredding company can claim “no hidden fees.”
The Most Sustainable Legal Document Shredding Service
Many attorneys can testify that there are mistakes you only see in the word document, the errors you only see in hard copy, the oversights you only see in PDF form, and the discrepancies you only see in post-filing.
Paper copies and documents give you a break from screen time, facilitate better reading comprehension, and often come in handy for in-person meetings. If that’s the way you like to operate, you don’t have to worry. Steel City Shredding recycles 100% of shredded paper and all eligible e-waste, hard drives, and electronics.
So the next time someone jokes with you that the legal industry keeps the paper industry alive, you can tell them that your legal shredding service helps reduce your carbon footprint and lower emissions.
Legal Document Scanning & Shredding Service
If your law firm has decided to digitize old case files, Steel City Shredding offers a bulk scanning service.
- Pickup: We’ll come to your office, load your case files and legal documents, and securely transport them back to our facility.
- Prep: We’ll perform all the manual setup of the legal documents (removing staples, arranging the documents, etc.) so they can be scanned.
- Scanning: Through Optical Character Recognition (OCR), our scanner converts the scans into searchable PDF files. We’ll even index and sort the files according to your preferences.
- Delivery: The end deliverable is an encrypted hard drive containing the files.
If you so choose, we can securely shred the paper legal records, files, and documents as a two-in-one shredding and scanning solution.
Besides the benefits that accompany a partnership with Steel City Shredding, there are many practical benefits to secure legal document shredding.
Legal Document Shredding Preserves Attorney-Client Privilege
Attorney-client privilege is a foundational principle of the legal profession. Failure to preserve it is not only a violation of your client’s sacred right but also an indelible stain on your reputation.
Lawyers know that spoliation, the failure to preserve evidence, can be grounds for lost cases, court sanctions, lawsuits, and other repercussions. But often overlooked is the other side of the spectrum: failure to properly dispose of legal documents. Once files are legally eligible for purging, the longer you keep them around, the longer you expose yourself to breaches.
Leaks, whether intentional or weaponized, have occurred for as long as the legal profession has been around. The best way to avoid them is by shoring up your chain of custody and guaranteeing that legal documents are destroyed. NAID certified shredding specialists from Steel City Shredding are the vetted professionals you want handling your files before they’re destroyed.
Additionally, if sensitive legal documents are not disposed of correctly, it cracks open the door to possible waivers of attorney-client privilege. The case Suburban Sew ’N Sweep, Inc. v. Swiss-Bernina is the oft-cited example for such circumstances. Privileged communications from the defendant (Swiss-Bernina) to its legal counsel were taken from the company’s dumpster and used as part of the plaintiff’s (Suburban Sew ‘N Sweep) argument. A U.S. District court ruled that attorney-client privilege did not apply since the documents had been abandoned, so there was no expectation of confidentiality any longer.
That’s why the American Bar Association lays out guidelines for Confidentiality of Information in Rule 1.6, which states: A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to the representation of a client.
So while paper shredding may not appear like a case-altering or reputation-defining service, it actually is. One of our core commitments at Steel City Shredding is that we are an extension of your information security efforts, and that ensures you meet your legal, ethical, and professional obligations.
Legal Document Shredding Saves Storage Space
Whether you’re a large or small firm, the question of storage will eventually come up.
Smaller law firms often store files in their office locations. As the years go by, the file cabinets fill up and the stacks of boxes begin to look like Jenga blocks. That creates a cluttered environment, making it difficult for your team to operate effectively and retrieve legal files. Using Steel City Shredding to securely shred eligible legal records frees up space, allowing you to get the most out of your current location or even downsize.
Large firms sometimes use offsite storage units for files that are inactive but must be kept due to retention periods. Like anything else, commercial storage expenses eat up budget. So, the less you have to store, the less you have to pay. Shredding the eligible legal documents is another way to maximize offsite storage and ensure you don’t have to expand to additional units.
Legal Document Shredding Makes for Smoother Transitions
Life happens. Partners retire. Firms get sold. Offices move. These types of transitions are significant, emotional events that require planning and care. They involve financial transactions, negotiation, and of course, legal work.
There’s also the question of what to keep and what to throw away. That applies to legal records just as much as the office furniture, supplies, and electronics. Cases can produce hundreds, if not thousands, of documents, and that quickly adds up. Then, after you determine which legal documents qualify for disposal, you’re confronted with the stress of how to get rid of it all.
Steel City Shredding’s mobile, on-site shredding service can solve that problem, eliminating another hassle from your checklist. Because when you’re navigating times of transition, the last thing you want to be dealing with is basic logistics.
Schedule Your Complimentary Shredding Consultation
At Steel City Shredding, we understand the serious and complex nature of your work. We’re equipped to operate under the stringent requirements you must fulfill and create a custom shredding service tailored to your needs.
To discuss our secure legal document shredding solutions, call us at 412-496-1240 or contact us for a quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of attorneys does Steel City Shredding work with?
Steel City Shredding is qualified and credentialed to perform legal shredding services for private law practices, solo practitioners, in-house corporate attorneys, government entities like district attorneys, courts, and legal service organizations. If you practice law, we can help!
What types of legal documents should be shredded?
Always make sure to check local, state, and federal laws to verify what documents qualify for disposal. Here are some common legal documents that are often eligible for shredding.
- Client case files outside of mandated retention periods
- Client communications and contact information
- Outdated legal references and documents
- Financial records, bank statements, credit reports, and invoices
- Contracts with clients, vendors, and associates
- Human resources and team member information
- Documents containing protected health information (PHI)
Where is Steel City Shredding located?
You can find us on 3200 Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA. We can shred your legal documents at our facility, or our mobile shredding trucks can come to you.
While we mainly serve the Pittsburgh metro area, we also travel throughout Pennsylvania and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
- Washington, PA
- Cranberry, PA
- Moon Township, PA
- Erie, PA
- Uniontown, PA
- Altoona, Johnstown, PA
- Wheeling, West Virginia
Note to reader: The information found in this article is not comprehensive nor intended to serve as legal advice. Please consult all applicable local, state, and federal legislation regarding retention periods and legal document eligibility guidelines.