We would agree that keeping records for only the minimum requirement is not be sufficient to protect all of the business and personal interests of the lawyer. We merely state that if you don't keep the files at least five years, you may violate Rule 1.15. One can readily think of several reasons. If the lawyer has the original wills, then a probate may be required. Also, when the lawyers moves the office location or changes firms, business logic would dictate mailing notice of the move to all of the clients represented in the last several years.
Many lawyers still retain every single closed file that they ever had.
There are also dangers associated with destruction of client files. So we will not attack the logic or practice of the lawyers who have decided to keep every single file. Certainly if proper advance preparations have not been made, the files cannot be destroyed without at least some review by the lawyer. Spending hours going through decades old files is not only unappealing, but is certainly a big investment of non-billable time. Deciding to rent a larger storage building for the new closed files may be the best business decision.