Secure file sharing for law firms: a workflow per matter
A step-by-step routine for small law firms: one folder and one request link per matter, with a deadline.
If your firm still collects passports, payslips, title deeds and signed forms as email attachments, you can replace that with one repeatable routine. This guide to secure file sharing for law firms walks a small immigration, family or property practice through it: one request link per matter, a deadline, a destination folder, final copies returned behind a password and an expiry date, and a record of what happened. It is a workflow guide, not legal advice, and it says nothing about what your professional rules require.
Why email attachments stop working for client documents
Email was built for messages, not for a client's forty scanned pages. Attachments hit size limits, photos arrive sideways, and the one document you need sits in a thread from three weeks ago that nobody can find. The paralegal who received it is on leave.
Document volume is the real strain in practices like immigration, where one case can mean hundreds of pages. A recent article in Caribbean National Weekly describes immigration firms buried by paperwork that arrives unlabeled: phone photos, screenshots, a passport scan with the corner cut off, and the same affidavit sent twice. Its first step is one door in, with every document for a matter entering through a single channel. A request link is a simple way to build that door.
Secure file sharing for law firms starts with one folder per matter
Before you ask a client for anything, create the place the answers will go. Use a simple pattern, such as client name, then matter number and type: "Okafor family / 2026-014 Spouse visa".
In Tarkle, files live in folders and the library, where you can search them, star the ones you are working on and filter by type. If several staff share the same workspace, team folders give each team or department its own folders, so the conveyancing team does not scroll past family files.
Keep one folder and one request link per matter. When a client has two matters open, send two links. Everything that comes back through a link lands in one place, and nothing needs sorting by hand later.
A word on what to ask for. Tarkle's privacy policy says it does not intentionally collect special categories of personal data, such as health, biometric or religious data, and asks you not to upload them unless you have a lawful basis. Immigration and family files can include exactly this kind of material, so decide with your own advisers what you collect before you build the request.
Collect: send a request link with instructions
A file request is a link that anyone can upload to, with your instructions on the page and a destination folder you choose. The client does not need to be taught a new system. They open the link, read what you need, and upload.
Tarkle does this with a file request link with instructions and a destination folder. Give the request a clear title and write the instructions as a checklist in plain words. Tarkle creates a sub-folder named after the request title inside your destination folder, so the title is worth choosing carefully. The request also has an email notification setting, on by default.
Good instructions name each document and say what a usable copy looks like. These are examples, so set your own standards for each matter type:
Passport photo page, all four corners visible, in colour.
Last three payslips, one file per month, named with the month.
Signed engagement letter, every page.
Proof of address, with the date you need it to fall within.
Write the instructions for a client reading on a phone. Short lines, one document per line, and the reason for each ("the application form asks for this") get you fewer questions and fewer wrong files.
If the client belongs to a company, such as a property developer or an employer sponsoring a visa, you can send the request to that client organization instead of leaving it open. Tarkle emails the organization's members the request link, and the request is limited to that one client organization. Client organizations group your contacts by the company they belong to.
Set a deadline and a limit on uploads
A request with no end date stays open and gets forgotten. Tarkle lets you set a deadline on the request: you close the request on a date and cap how much each person can upload. A cap protects the folder from a client who sends a full phone camera roll by mistake.
Choose the deadline from your own calendar, not the client's. If a filing needs the documents on the 20th, set the request to close a few days earlier, and tell the client the reason in the instructions. Put a diary note on your side for the day before the deadline, and chase by phone if the folder is still thin.
One plan detail matters for a firm with many open matters. On Free, a workspace can have one active file request at a time. A practice running several matters at once should look at the paid plans before it plans its routine around many links.
Return final copies with a password and an expiry date
Sending final documents back by email puts the same attachments in the same inboxes you were trying to avoid. A transfer gives you more control. Upload the final copies from the matter folder and send them as a transfer to your client.
Two settings do most of the work:
Password protection: the recipient must enter a password before they can open the transfer. Free plans include it.
An expiry date: you set a date after which the transfer or request link stops working.
For a single document that should be seen once, a one-time link works once and then burns itself. For anything the client may need to return to, such as a long contract, use an expiry date instead, because a burned link cannot be reopened.
Never put the password in the same email as the link. Send the link by email and tell the client the password by phone or text message. If the email is forwarded or lands in the wrong inbox, the password does not travel with it.
Password protection does not help if the password is shared or leaked, and a link that has not expired still works for whoever holds it. If you sent something to the wrong person, you can disable a link in one click.
Keep a record of what happened
When a client says "I sent that last week" or "I never got it", the answer should not rely on memory. Tarkle's activity log with export is a searchable record of what happened across your workspace. It records events such as uploads, downloads, views, shares, and transfers being created and accessed. You can export it as a CSV file, with the date, action, resource, user and type for each entry.
Use it as a working record of the matter, to settle a question about when something arrived or was opened. Tarkle's privacy policy also notes that senders and workspace administrators can see recipient activity such as viewing, downloads and uploads. It is not a legal audit trail, and whether it meets any record-keeping rule that applies to your firm is a question for your own advisers.
Add one habit to close the matter: when the file is done, export the log for that period and save the CSV in the matter folder.
Decide where the files are stored
Some clients, and some firms, care where documents physically sit. Tarkle stores workspace files in one of four regions: Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific or Oceania. You choose your storage region when you create the workspace, and the files stay in that region. A firm whose clients are mostly in one part of the world can pick the nearest region from the start.
This is a storage location, not a statement about your firm's obligations. Ask your own advisers what you need.
Set this up today
Create a client folder, with one subfolder for each open matter.
Write a request with instructions that list each document, and send one link per matter.
Set a deadline a few days before the one you really need, and put a diary note on your side.
Return final copies as a transfer with a password and an expiry date, and send the password by a different channel.
Export the activity log when the matter closes and save it with the file.
The same routine works for other document-heavy work. See how to collect tax documents from clients securely for an accountant's version. You can try the whole flow on a test matter first: Start for free, and browse the other features when you are ready.