Timestamping at matter intake: what to record on day one

Why intake is the right moment

• It is the first point you hold the files. Anything done later starts from your copy, not the client’s original.
• Clients often arrive with a "we had this first" story. A timestamp can’t look backwards, but from now on it fixes what existed.
• It is routine. Intake already has a checklist: identity, conflicts, engagement letter. One more step fits.
• The cost is small. A Pooled TimeBind is US$5 if bought on its own (the first is free), and one TimeBind can hold up to 10 files.

What to timestamp at intake

• The client’s key documents as received: contracts, term sheets, prior versions.
• IP material: drafts, designs, source code, manuscripts, recordings, brand assets the client says they created. This records what the client held on that date, not who made it.
• Evidence the client is preserving: exports of correspondence, photos, logs, as received.
• Anything under an NDA or confidentiality arrangement that is being handed over.
• For larger sets: zip the set, or list the files and date the zip.

A seven-step intake routine

1. Collect the files in the form received. Don’t open and re-save them. Copy them to a working folder.
2. Agree the service. Explain it in the engagement terms and state the fee, if any.
3. Make the TimeBind. Drop the folder or zip into the TimeBinder app. The fingerprint is made in your browser.
4. Use a matter number as the reference. No client names.
5. Pick Pooled or ASAP. Pooled for routine bundles. ASAP where a dispute is already likely.
6. File the certificate on the matter next to the originals, with a note: who delivered the files, how, when, and from which device.
7. Tell the client what it shows, and what it does not.

What it records, and what it doesn’t

It records that these exact files existed no later than the recorded time and still match their fingerprints. It does not record who created them, that they are original, or that the client had them any earlier. If originality is in question, intake is where you collect the supporting evidence: drafts, working files, emails and witnesses. See recording background IP before a client contract.

Offering it as a service

Firms can include it in a fixed intake fee, add a stated line for it, or offer it as part of an "evidence hygiene" package. The firm buys TimeBinds at TimeBinder’s published prices (first Pooled free, then from US$5, ASAP US$15, lower per TimeBind on a plan) and sets its own price. Follow your own billing and disclosure rules. The full options are in offering timestamping to clients.

Why the first day matters

At intake you hold the client's version of events in their original files. A TimeBind records the exact files as received, adding a layer of protection against later claims that a document was different or altered. It records the file at that date; it does not show the file is genuine or that the client created it.

General information, not legal advice. A TimeBind shows that this exact file existed no later than the recorded time and still matches its fingerprint. It does not show authorship, ownership, copyright status or how any court, tribunal, client or insurer will treat it.