Legal Tech: Practical steps to managing your metadata

By Shamla Naidoo You’ve heard about the issues with metadata—lawyers can inadvertently share privileged information, even with opposing counsel. You may also have reviewed the ethics rules on how to react when opposing counsel accidentally sends us a document containing metadata. Wouldn’t it be better to avoid sending the metadata in the first place? Lawyers review the content of legal documents before sharing them. However, metadata is part of the content of the electronic document - but it is not obvious, not on the face of the document - and may be easily overlooked. Careful review of metadata reduces the ethics burden created for other lawyers; increases client confidence in how sensitive matters are handled; and demonstrates competence to operate in the electronic age. There are expensive tools and services to help you manage your metadata; however, you can simply use the available features of your existing word processing software to do this for free.  I use Office 2007 so the metadata management discussed here is limited to Word 2007 before converting them to PDF. First, you should clear any existing metadata from new documents since these may include default information. If you use templates or reuse documents, the name of the author of the template or source document may be embedded within your work product. To clear this information, click on the Office button (in the top-left corner of the Word window), select “Prepare”, select “Inspect Document”, and press the “Inspect” button. In the next screen, Word will display all locations where metadata was detected, including document properties, headers, footers, watermarks, etc. Press each “Remove All” button to delete the relevant category of metadata. Second, determine what metadata you wish to add to the document (e.g. the name of your firm, the author of the document, version numbering or search tags). You can include this information in the properties of the document by clicking the Office button, selecting “Prepare”, and clicking “Properties”. You can add entries for the author, key words, and other common categories. If you need additional categories, click “Document Properties” and select “Advanced Properties”. Prior to publication/sharing, you should again inspect your document for metadata and make sure the metadata is appropriate for your recipient. Lastly, remember that PDF documents may include hidden metadata from source documents. With a little effort this metadata may be viewed by others. Be proactive by managing the metadata within your source documents, before converting them to PDF. Virtually all Microsoft Office products include metadata when saving documents so learn how to use the equivalent metadata management features for the products you use.