Law firm office cleaning: how do you protect confidentiality after hours?

Treat the cleaning crew like any outside party who enters when nobody is there: lock client files and offices that hold them, keep desks clear, put confidentiality and a no-documents rule in the cleaning contract, control keys and alarm codes in writing, and know who is assigned to your office. Your ethics counsel decides what your professional rules require.

By JCIL Services Inc. · Published October 12, 2026

What do the professional conduct rules say?

In Massachusetts, Rule 1.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct governs confidential client information, and Rule 5.3 requires lawyers with managerial or supervisory authority to make reasonable efforts so that nonlawyers employed, retained by or associated with the lawyer act in a way compatible with the lawyer's obligations. How those rules apply to a cleaning vendor, and what "reasonable efforts" means for your firm, is a question for your firm's ethics counsel or the bar's ethics resources. What follows are practical controls, not legal advice.

What should be locked or cleared before the crew arrives?

• Files and file rooms. Locked cabinets or a locked room the crew does not enter.
• Desks. A clear-desk habit at the end of the day. Crews generally won't wipe surfaces covered in papers.
• Screens. Locked or off. Nobody on a cleaning crew should need a keyboard.
• Shredding. Locked shred consoles, not open boxes, and never documents in regular trash.
• Printers and conference rooms. Collect printouts and wipe whiteboards before leaving.

Which controls reduce the risk, and who owns each?

How should keys and after-hours access work for a law office?

Agree access before the first night, in writing: how the crew enters, which rooms are off-limits, how the alarm is handled and how the office is left. Give the cleaning company its own alarm user code where your system allows it, so arm and disarm events are traceable. When the relationship ends, get keys and cards back and change codes. A firm that already restricts access for its own staff should apply the same rules to the crew.

What should the cleaning contract say about confidentiality?

• Personnel keep confidential anything they see and do not read, copy or remove documents.
• Photos for quality control avoid people, screens and documents, and are not used in marketing without consent.
• Keys and codes are stored securely and used only for the service.
• The firm can request that a specific person no longer be assigned.
• What happens to keys and codes on termination.

How does JCIL handle confidentiality and keys?

Our service agreement says JCIL and its personnel keep confidential any client information they see and do not read, copy or remove documents. Photos are taken of areas serviced, stored privately, and personnel avoid photographing people, screens and documents. Keys, cards and codes are kept in a secured, access-logged credential store and used only for the service; on termination, keys and cards are returned within 5 business days and you should change codes. A background check is a condition of working with JCIL, and we will remove any individual from your account at your reasonable request. In a law office, reception and the conference room are ready for clients in the morning, and desks are wiped only as agreed in the scope.

FAQ

Sources

• Mass. SJC, Rule 1.6 Confidentiality of Information
• Mass. SJC, Rule 5.3 Nonlawyer Assistance