Legal Document Redaction: What the Rules Require and How to Do It Without Exposing Your Clients
Improper redaction has torpedoed cases, triggered bar complaints, and cost firms millions. The mistake is almost always the same: attorneys believe they redacted something when they only covered it up. Here is exactly what the rules require and how to do it correctly.
Placing a black box or dark highlight over text in Word or Acrobat leaves the original text completely intact in the file. Any opposing counsel with a text extractor can recover it in seconds. This has happened in the Ted Stevens prosecution, multiple SEC investigations, and dozens of civil matters.
Methods That Don't Work
What Court Rules Require You to Redact
- Social Security numbers (last 4 only)
- Taxpayer ID numbers
- Dates of birth (year only)
- Financial account numbers (last 4 only)
- Names of minor children (initials only)
- Client confidential communications
- Privileged attorney work product
- Third-party private information
- Medical and financial records
- Driver's license numbers
- Passport numbers
- Home addresses in domestic violence cases
- Victim information in criminal matters
How ShieldRedact Does It Correctly
ShieldRedact processes every document entirely inside your browser — your file never touches a server. When you apply a redaction, the text is permanently destroyed at the data level — not covered, not hidden, not present in any layer of the resulting file. You can verify this yourself by running the output through any PDF text extractor. The redacted content will not be there because it no longer exists.
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