Do you brush your teeth, look both ways before crossing the street, have car, home and health insurance, and lock your doors at night?

If so, then you already have the risk management skills that enable you to manage the legal risks in your commercial and business life, which is the topic of my columns over the next four weeks.

Today, I will discuss document management. Over the next three weeks, I will address fraud and how to avoid being defrauded, what to do when you fear that you are a victim of fraud, and finally, dispute and crisis management.

It is difficult to imagine a transaction or event that does not produce a document.

Appropriate document management increases the likelihood of a profitable and trouble-free commercial life, reducing your chances of going to court while simultaneously increasing your chances of winning if you do.

If you do end up in court, all relevant documents must be disclosed to the other side and this includes documents marked confidential, computer records, e-mails, voicemails and tapes.

A document can be proof of an agreement, or its terms, the state of a person's knowledge at any given time, a payment, or a demand - the possibilities are endless.

A document is more persuasive evidence than the recollection of the person who created it - whose memory may have faded - indeed a document can even speak beyond the grave.

So it is vitally important that you adopt some general guidelines for document management.

Identify material agreements (or documents evidencing your oral agreements) and maintain them in a secure place.

Make sure the agreements are effective. Do not let down your guard because the commercial relationship is longstanding. Agreements should be updated to reflect changes.

Create an organised document retention and destruction policy that takes into account legal limitation periods and any government or regulatory requirements that are relevant to your business - for example, a requirement to obtain and retain certain documents.

Consistency is important. Since documents typically cross-refer to each other, important context can be lost when there is a cross-reference to a document that has been destroyed and/or there is an unfortunate or damaging reference in one document which could have been explained by reference to other papers long since disposed of.

Finally, let us not forget the document itself.

Be clear! Careless casual language, particularly in internal documents, where employees are sometimes less vigilant, can be very damaging in court. Above all:

Remember that everything written down may be read by strangers, or even a judge, from a manuscript note on a Post-It to a registered letter.

Do not send anything in writing that you do not want to exist permanently. Only in Mission Impossible do messages self-destruct in ten seconds.

Do not hoard documents or otherwise maintain documents outside of your company's retention policy.

(Keep an accurate record and contemporaneous notes of all meetings with customers, clients or employees, on matters that affect your contractual relations, preferably with everyone present confirming the accuracy of the record.

When using email do not let down your guard - be precise, clear, business like and effective. E-mails are date and time specific and accordingly powerful evidence in showing the relationship between the parties, or the state of their knowledge, at any given time.

Voicemail - be precise. Voice mails, like e-mails, can have a long life and can be copied and forwarded to more people than you ever intended.

If a dispute arises in spite of your best risk management efforts, create no new documents until you have called your lawyer. The general rule that documents relevant to a dispute must be disclosed to the court is subject to an important exception - communications with in-house or external lawyers are usually not subject to disclosure on the basis that they are protected by legal professional privilege.

For those of you with international offices, note that not all countries consider communications with in-house lawyers to be privileged. If a potential problem has any connection with another jurisdiction - immediately instruct your external lawyers so that there can be no question of privilege in the future. After calling your lawyer, there are other steps you should take.

Put a halt to any standard document disposal system and prevent any further destruction of documents.

Collect all of the relevant documents from employees and other sources, and maintain them in a secure place, taking a very wide approach to what might be relevant.

Maintain the documents as collected - do not reorganise the files - and record the source of the document.

Do not write on these documents. Do preserve your computer records.

If you follow the guidelines set out above you have taken a crucial step in managing your legal risk.

Kiernan J. Bell is an associate lawyer in the Litigation Department of Appleby Spurling & Kempe. Copies of Ms. Bell's columns can be obtained on the Appleby Spurling & Kempe website at www.ask.bm. This column should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice. Before proceeding with any matters discussed here, persons are advised to consult with a lawyer.