Client Matter Closure Checklist

Responsible attorney confirms the engagement scope has been satisfied — settlement executed, judgment entered, deal closed, registration issued, or estate distributed. Compare against the engagement letter scope to catch any open deliverables before declaring the matter complete.

Pull the matter's docket from CalendarRules / Court Alert / the PMS calendar and confirm every entry is concluded, withdrawn, or non-applicable. Pay particular attention to appeal windows and post-judgment motion deadlines — these are the most-missed items at closure.

Where applicable, file stipulation of dismissal, satisfaction of judgment, notice of withdrawal, or final report via CM/ECF or the state e-filing portal (NYSCEF, Texas eFile, etc.). Confirm the certificate of service and retain the file-stamped copy in the DMS.

Classify the closure outcome — this drives the disbursement workflow and the records-retention period applied later. Settlements and judgments with funds trigger the trust-disbursement track; transactional and advisory closures skip it.

Do not disburse against uncollected funds. Wait for the bank's actual collection (typically 7–10 banking days for a check, instant for wire). Disbursing early creates a negative client ledger balance — an automatic Rule 1.15 violation and IOLTA overdraft notice to the state bar.

Identify and satisfy any medical liens, Medicare/Medicaid set-aside, ERISA reimbursement, child-support lien, or attorney's lien from prior counsel. Hold disputed liens in trust pending resolution; do not release to client without a signed lien-payoff acknowledgment.

Itemize gross recovery, attorney fee (per the contingency or hourly agreement), advanced costs, lien payoffs, and net to client. Client signs the disbursement statement before any check is cut — this is the document that prevents fee disputes after the fact.

Run three-way reconciliation on this matter's sub-ledger: book balance, bank balance, and client ledger sum should each show zero after disbursement. Any residual cents must be resolved before close — escheat unclaimed amounts per state rules rather than leaving stale balances on the IOLTA.

Responsible attorney reviews every time entry on the final pre-bill before it goes to the client. Trim verbose junior-associate narratives, write off non-billable research, and confirm rates match the engagement letter. Unedited pre-bills are the most common source of fee disputes at closure.

Generate the final invoice from the PMS (Clio, MyCase, Tabs3, etc.) and deliver via the client portal or email. Mark the invoice FINAL and reference any retainer applied or refund due. Apply remaining trust retainer to the invoice only with written client authorization in the engagement letter or a signed direction.

Any unearned retainer must be returned to the client — Rule 1.16(d) is unforgiving on this. Issue a trust check or ACH from the IOLTA, not from operating, and document the transfer in the client's trust sub-ledger.

Mark whether the final invoice was paid, written off, or referred to collections. Outstanding A/R at close must be flagged before the matter is archived — collections cannot proceed against a matter the firm has formally terminated without notice.

The closing letter is the document that formally ends the attorney-client relationship — without it, the firm may still owe duties (deadline reminders, conflict imputation) on a matter it considers closed. State that representation has ended, summarize the outcome, identify any post-closure obligations on the client, and note the file retention period.

Identify any deadlines the client must track on their own — appeal windows, judgment renewal dates, trademark maintenance filings, estate plan review, corporate annual report. Putting these in the closing letter both protects the client and documents that the firm is no longer responsible for them.

Return originals (deeds, titles, wills, executed contracts, passports) to the client via tracked delivery or in-person pickup with a signed receipt. Originals are the client's property, not the firm's — keeping them past closure is an ongoing fiduciary risk.

Consolidate pleadings, correspondence, executed documents, work product, and final billing into the matter's folder structure in NetDocuments / iManage / Clio Documents. Remove duplicate drafts and personal-device copies. Apply the closed-matter security profile so the file becomes read-only.

Set the destruction date per the firm's retention schedule — commonly 7 years for general matters, 10+ years for real estate, indefinite for estate planning and minor-client matters. Trust-account records are 7+ years from the last activity date in most states.

Scan any remaining paper into the DMS, then route to secure shred (Iron Mountain, Shred-it) — never to general trash. Document the chain of custody on the destruction certificate. Sensitive matter types (immigration, family, criminal) get same-day shred rather than batch.

Set matter status to Closed in Clio / MyCase / Centerbase / Smokeball with the close date and outcome code. Closed-matter status removes the matter from active WIP reporting but preserves it in the conflicts database — closing too early is a billing problem; closing in the wrong state is a conflicts problem.

Add every party identified during representation — adverse parties, witnesses, related entities, expert witnesses retained against — to the conflicts system (IntApp Open, Clio Conflicts, LegalKEY). Closed matters drive future Rule 1.9 former-client conflicts; missing entries here cause DQ motions years later.

Responsible attorney convenes associates and paralegals for a 30-minute debrief: what worked, what surprised us, what we'd budget differently. Capture realization rate against the original fee estimate so future matters of this type can be priced more accurately.

Final partner sign-off: closing letter delivered, originals returned, trust ledger zeroed, conflicts database updated, file archived with retention date set. Capture the partner signature as the matter's formal closure record.