A Tale of Two Templates
Using templates for word processing documents is a wonderful way to maintain consistent formatting, reduce errors and improve efficiency. However, two “ripped from the headlines” examples serve as reminders of how templates can be a powerful risk management tool or lead to costly and embarrassing risk exposure.
What Are Templates?
There are many ways to leverage templates in the tools you are already using. You can create templates for emails and documents. Word processors like MS Word and Word Perfect allow you to create and save templates to create new “clean” documents. You can keep it as simple as creating a .dot file in MS Word to using sophisticated document assembly tools. Even with the simplest of tools there are risks and benefits.
Template Malfunction
In 2017 a law firm had to file notice of a data breach with the NC Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division for exposure of personal information pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-60 (Identity Theft Protect Act). What happened? A firm employee inadvertently emailed a form document containing pre-filled information relating to a seller in a residential real estate transaction to three individuals outside the Firm who were not otherwise connected to or involved with the transaction. Normally once information is entered into the fillable PDF template form it is saved under a new filename related to the transaction at issue in the Firm’s document management system. However, in this instance the seller’s information was saved directly into the template form itself. The template form was then emailed out later the same day to three individuals who were involved with separate residential real estate transactions. Other information included the seller’s telephone number, mailing address, email address, and the loan number for the mortgage being paid off through the transaction. The Firm became aware of this when one of the real estate agents who had inadvertently received the pre-filled form contacted the Firm.
Whether a PDF form or a Word document, a file can be overwritten, and information saved into the form document. Firms should take steps to reduce this kind of error, considering how best to collect information that can then be added to a form or document. One straightforward way to collect information without affecting the underlying document is to use a survey tool that generates a PDF document, such as Jotform or use the Mail Merge feature in MS Word to insert form data into a document. The risk of overwriting a form is therefore greatly reduced.
Another consideration is that a person in a firm overwrites a document template created for use by multiple people in the firm and saves it to a shared file, where it is possible someone else using the template may not notice the changes. When you create a document template make sure that the document is clearly named “template”, is saved in a folder reserved for templates, has the .dotx extension appropriate for templates (File – Save As – Type – Word Template (.dotx). In theory when someone opens the template it will create a new file. However, depending on how the file is opened it is possible to overwrite it. If someone opens it from Microsoft Word (File – Open) the template can be overwritten. Consider adding Read Only permission to the document template by right clicking on the file name and in Properties – Attributes check the “Read-only” box and apply. If someone opens the template and it opens the actual template file (.dotx) if they attempt to save it they will be prompted to save with a different file name (save as) because the file is read only.
Templates to the Rescue
Recently a Federal Judge was put in the position to have to explain that an opinion she wrote was not written by the staff of the special master on the case as the metadata indicated.
Do you want to explain that the metadata is not as it appears? A Federal Judge may be able to explain why the metadata in an opinion that she penned was not indicative of ghostwriting, but it is better to just remove it and leave no questions. Also, another valuable lesson here – create and use templates instead of using old documents as the source for new ones. You can be as simple as creating a template file or create a template with fillable fields. Using document templates and removing metadata will help make sure the firm is using best practices and mitigating risks.
Conclusion
Templates can be, when used properly, a great tool in a law office. However, ensure that your team is properly trained on how to create, use, and share them properly so that you leverage the benefits without the drawbacks.