What's useful
- Complete matter files from closed litigation, disputes and advisory work.
- Transaction files from completed deals: drafts, mark-ups, negotiation history and final documents.
- Precedents and know-how your firm has built.
- Drafts and redlines. The versions in between show how documents are actually negotiated.
What qualifies
The listing is for law firms of roughly 5 to 300 lawyers and staff with complete files from closed matters.
What to check first
Your duty of confidentiality to clients continues after a matter closes. Speak to your COLP and take advice before including any client material.
- Confidentiality. The SRA Code of Conduct requires solicitors to keep the affairs of current and former clients confidential unless disclosure is required or permitted by law or the client consents. In practice, client files need clients' informed consent, or anonymisation thorough enough that no client affairs are disclosed.
- Privilege. Legal professional privilege belongs to the client, not the firm. Ask how privileged material would be treated.
- Third parties' information. Files contain information about opponents, witnesses and counterparties, including special category data in many disputes.
- Your own know-how. Internal precedents, templates and training materials are usually the clearest to license.
What it's worth
Mercor lists potential company earnings of $50kâ$1.2M for law firms, depending on what's in scope. That is Mercor's own figure, not a promise or guarantee from us.
Could we ask clients for consent?
Yes. Some firms approach selected clients, especially for completed transactional work. Consent needs to be properly informed about what will be shared and how.
Are court documents already public?
Some are, but the rest of the file isn't, and public filings don't remove your confidentiality duties for everything else.