>(BTW I *am* in the process of finding a lawyer to consult, just thought I'd ask here out of interest)


I've been involved in a few of these situations over the years, both as a contractor and as a supervising employee. Since you are a contractor, it's not as messy. You're contracted to perform a specific service.

Probably the first and best advice is for you to seek legal counsel. I'm not an attorney, just the IT administrator of our firm, so anything I say can't be construed as legal advice. With that said....

Our firm's employee manual specifically states that all electronic media, as well as the hardware it's on, is the property of the firm, i.e., the employee has no information privacy rights at the office. All content, password or no password, would then be available for review by company officers at any time. That also includes emails and Internet browser logs. I don't know if Canadian law is similar to US law in this respect, so that's something to check.

Yes, it would be in your best interest to keep things "as they were" as much as possible on the computer. If a legal battle ensues, the computer and all of its information will be subpoenaed as evidence. Diskettes and printouts, too. I also highly recommend that you have at least one company officer present as you look at or manipulate the data. And keep written notes of what you did and anything out of the ordinary that saw in the data or that you were asked to do. If a lawsuit occurs, it'll probably be several months from now before you are asked to give a deposition. The written notes will be invaluable.

Also, in the one instance where I was the contracted "keeper of records" for a company that was sued, my client hired two attorneys to represent me in the deposition and ensuing trial. The attorneys told me that I had no culpability in the case since I had been contracted by my client to perform a service.

Hope this helps a little.