How to Preserve Client Text Messages for Litigation

A client's text message can authorize a settlement, amend an instruction, or confirm receipt of advice.

If that exchange later becomes relevant to litigation, your firm must be able to retrieve the conversation and establish its context.

Preserving those records requires attention to where attorneys conduct client conversations, how the firm retains messages, and what happens when devices or accounts change.

The following sections explain how to preserve client text messages for litigation, organize them for retrieval, and protect them against deletion.

They also discuss how to integrate iPlum into your firm's setup to retain and access client correspondence.

We’ll start with how to preserve client messages for litigation.

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1. Establish a designated channel for client text messages

2. Save complete client conversations with their supporting details

3. Organize preserved texts for retrieval from the client file

4. Prevent deletion during retention and account changes

5. Verify that preserved client texts remain accessible

6. Enhance client text preservation with iPlum

7. Preserving client text messages for litigation FAQs

8. Preserve your firm's client messages with iPlum

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Establish a designated channel for client text messages

Client texts are difficult to preserve consistently when attorneys receive them through personal numbers and accounts your firm does not administer.

A designated business texting channel gives your firm an account through which it can establish retention procedures, assign administrative responsibility, and arrange access to correspondence.

Here’s what you need to do:

Assign a business number for attorney-client texting

Give attorneys a business number for client communication. Your firm should establish who administers the account, who can retrieve its records, and how the service retains messages.

That said, a separate number alone does not preserve correspondence. Therefore, verify the service's archiving and export functions before attorneys use it to exchange client instructions or approvals.

Move ongoing client conversations to the designated number

Provide the business number in engagement materials, email signatures, and client contact instructions. Attorneys should then use that number for subsequent texts concerning the representation.

If a client continues texting an attorney's personal number, ask them to send future messages to the designated business number. However, preserve any relevant exchange already received through the personal account.

Apply the same procedure when another attorney assumes responsibility for the representation, so the client knows which number to use.

Preserve existing exchanges before changing communication channels

Moving future conversations to a business number does not transfer messages from an attorney's personal account.

Before changing accounts or devices, arrange preservation of existing client exchanges and their associated attachments. Record the source number and account so your firm can distinguish earlier correspondence from messages received through the new channel.

Then verify that the saved records are accessible before retiring the original account or device.

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Save complete client conversations with their supporting details

A preserved conversation should allow your firm to examine what the client said, what prompted the response, and whether later messages changed its meaning.

Therefore, save the exchange with its associated files and available message details.

Follow the steps below to check its completeness.

Retain the messages before and after a client's response

A reply such as “I agree” provides limited information when separated from the proposal it addresses. The client could also qualify that approval in a subsequent message.

Preserve enough of the conversation to establish:

The question, advice, or proposed action preceding the response.
The client's instruction or approval.
Any subsequent correction, qualification, or withdrawal.

If the discussion resumes in another thread, preserve the related exchange and document the connection.

Preserve attachments with the messages that reference them

A text approving “the revised agreement” requires the corresponding document to establish what the client reviewed.

Save attachments alongside the messages that transmitted or discussed them. Relevant files could comprise draft agreements, photographs, voice messages, or other documents.

Then confirm that the saved record identifies the version sent to the client. An attachment's filename alone might not distinguish it from an earlier draft bearing the same name.

Retain available sender details, dates, and timestamps

Preserve the information available from the source account or collection method, including:

Sender and recipient numbers or account identifiers.
Message dates and times.
The sequence of messages.
Available delivery or read-status information.

A contact label such as “John" does not, on its own, establish who participated. Accordingly, retain the underlying number or account identifier where available.

Also, document the applicable time zone if an export displays times differently from the original conversation.

Verify that the saved record matches the original exchange

Compare the saved records with the source conversation before treating preservation as complete. Check for omitted messages, truncated text, missing attachments, and changes in sequence.

Selected screenshots can omit surrounding exchanges or message details. Similarly, manually copying text into a document can separate the wording from its source.

If you identify an omission, address it before the original account or device becomes unavailable.

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Organize preserved texts for retrieval from the client file

Preserved messages need to be retrievable when an attorney examines a disputed instruction or prepares a response.

Your firm should therefore connect saved conversations to the relevant client file and document how it obtained them.

Here’s what you need to do:

Associate each saved conversation with the correct representation

Use consistent identifiers when filing exported messages and attachments. At a minimum, record:

The client’s name or internal client number.
The case or engagement reference.
The attorney or business number associated with the exchange.
The date range of the saved conversation.

If your firm represents a client in several proceedings, distinguish the correspondence associated with each. Where a conversation concerns multiple engagements, document those connections rather than assigning it arbitrarily to one file.

Retain an unedited copy of the collected records

Save an unedited copy of the files as collected. Then create separate working copies for annotations, redactions, or preparation of exhibits.

For example, an attorney reviewing settlement instructions might mark particular messages for examination. Those annotations should appear on a working copy so the collected record remains available for comparison.

Use filenames or folders that distinguish collected records from review copies.

Document who collected the messages and how

Record the collection details alongside the saved files:

The individual who performed the collection.
The collection date.
The source device, account, or business number.
The export or collection method.
Any limitations or errors encountered.

Such documentation gives your firm a basis for explaining where the records came from and how it obtained them if questions arise during litigation.

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Prevent deletion during retention and account changes

Saving client texts does not end the preservation process. Automatic deletion, archive expiration, and account closure can affect records your firm still needs.

Your firm should therefore address these events before they result in the loss of required correspondence.

Address automatic deletion on relevant devices and accounts

Review the settings that determine how long messages remain available. Check for:

Automatic deletion after a specified period.
Disappearing-message settings.
Synchronized deletion between connected devices and accounts.
Archive expiration dates.

Then confirm which settings affect the source conversation and which affect separately preserved records. Do not assume that a device backup or an archive retains messages indefinitely.

Assign responsibility for making necessary changes and verifying that they took effect.

Suspend routine disposal when a preservation obligation applies

An ordinary retention schedule does not determine when your firm can delete records subject to a litigation preservation obligation.

When litigation is reasonably anticipated, assess which client texts require preservation and suspend routine disposal of those records.

In federal litigation, Rule 37(e) addresses the loss of electronically stored information that should have been preserved when a party failed to take reasonable steps to preserve it.

Document:

The conversations and accounts affected
The deletion or disposal processes to suspend
The individuals responsible for implementing the instructions.

Then verify implementation. Issuing an instruction alone does not establish that the affected records remain available.

Preserve required records before closing an attorney's account

Before an attorney leaves or your firm cancels a service, check how account closure will affect archived correspondence and administrator access.

Arrange any necessary export or continued retention before cancellation. Then verify that an authorized colleague can retrieve the preserved conversations and associated files.

Also, distinguish ending the attorney's access from deleting the account's records. Your firm should coordinate both actions so a personnel change does not erase correspondence subject to an ongoing retention or preservation requirement.

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Verify that preserved client texts remain accessible

A successful export does not establish that your firm can retrieve and examine the records later. Test access after saving the files and repeat the check when storage systems or account permissions change.

Test retrieval of a specific client exchange

Select a conversation associated with a known client and date. Ask the authorized reviewer to locate it through the firm's records process.

Confirm that:

The reviewer can locate the correct exchange.
Message content and participant details remain readable.
Associated attachments open correctly.

Then address any retrieval problems and record the outcome.

Limit access to authorized reviewers

Assign access according to responsibility for the representation and records. An attorney reviewing client instructions and an administrator maintaining storage do not necessarily require identical permissions.

Also, reassess access when an attorney leaves or changes responsibilities. Confirm that an authorized replacement can retrieve required correspondence before withdrawing the departing attorney's access.

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Enhance client text preservation with iPlum

Your firm needs access to client correspondence beyond the attorney who received it. iPlum provides the features you need to make that happen.

With iPlum, you can:

Preserve client text messages for extended periods

A dispute over client instructions can arise months or years after the original exchange. Your firm, therefore, needs a retention period that accounts for correspondence remaining relevant beyond the immediate representation.

iPlum provides one year of text archiving on Professional and ten years on Enterprise.

With such extended archiving periods, your firm can retrieve earlier approvals, review changes to instructions, and examine correspondence relevant to a later dispute.

In addition, attorneys can access older archived texts through the online portal, even when those messages no longer appear in the mobile app.

Continue the same text thread when responsibility changes

When another attorney takes over a conversation, sending messages from a different number separates subsequent instructions from the earlier discussion.

iPlum provides a Shared Line that allows authorized colleagues to view the Shared Line's message history and respond to that number. A colleague can therefore review the client's earlier conditions before asking for final approval.

Your administrator selects the services and permissions shared with other users.

The benefit for your firm is continuity: the client's initial instruction and subsequent clarification can remain in the same conversation.

Request document approval through the business account from your desk

An attorney reviewing a revised agreement needs to identify precisely which version the client should approve.

For that, iPlum provides web texting, allowing attorneys to compose those requests from a computer through their business accounts.

Web texting enables you to use that access to identify the document title, revision date, and proposed action in the message and request an explicit response.

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Preserving client text messages for litigation FAQs

Are screenshots alone enough to preserve a complete client text record?

No. Screenshots alone do not reliably preserve complete conversations, attachments, and available message data. Preserve those records and verify them against the source.

How should attorneys preserve client texts on personal phones?

Save complete conversations, attachments, and available message details in the firm’s records system. Retain an unedited copy and document who collected the records, when, and how.

Does moving a phone number to iPlum transfer earlier texts?

No. Moving your number does not transfer historical messages into iPlum’s archive. Preserve earlier texts separately before closing the original account.

Does closing a case automatically permit the deletion of client texts?

No. Your firm must first assess applicable retention requirements and continuing litigation preservation obligations before deleting the correspondence.

How long does iPlum archive client text messages?

Professional archives texts for one year; Enterprise archives them for ten years. Both periods operate on a rolling basis, beginning with the applicable plan, and require active accounts.

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Preserve your firm's client messages with iPlum

Your firm should be able to retrieve a client's text instruction when its meaning comes into question.

Establishing that record begins with the account your attorneys use for the conversation.

iPlum provides your firm with business texting accounts, shared lines, web texting, and archiving options to retain client correspondence.

With iPlum, attorneys can continue conversations through the dedicated number, while authorized colleagues can review shared message histories.

Sign up for iPlum below and put a defined process for retaining future client text messages into practice, starting with your next exchange.

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Sign up for iPlum