For law firms

The know-how of your firm, with privileged material left out

The first thing law firms raise is privilege. Here is how scoping works for a firm's records.

What tends to be useful

A law firm's most valuable records tend to show how the firm runs, rather than any one client's matter. Consider everything a firm collects to sharpen its lawyers:

Precedent banks and templates, and how they evolved
Training material, research memos and issue checklists
Records of how work gets opened, staffed and closed out
Internal know-how notes written after a change in the law

The first concern: privilege

Privileged material is removed. What can be included depends on your engagement terms and your professional duties, and those are decisions for your firm and its own counsel. Legal advice is not something we offer. Before any preparation starts, you and your counsel settle the scope, and whatever you see as privileged or confidential is kept out.

Client matters can be left out completely

Many firms choose to keep every client matter out and include only internal know-how. That alone is a full scope. If your firm and counsel choose to include some matter records, the copy replaces names and identifiers with placeholders, covering clients, opposing parties, and your own lawyers and staff.

Questions owners in this field ask

Do we have to include every system?: No. To get the conversation going, one tidy system such as a knowledge library or precedent bank can be sufficient.
Who from our firm should take part?: Usually a managing partner, whoever runs your document management, and the counsel your firm relies on for questions like this one.
Does our practice have to change?: No. Your lawyers carry on in the same systems, and client service stays exactly as it is.

A typical fit

A typical fit is a firm with 20 or more full-time staff and 3 or more years of records kept in a document management system, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Smaller firms may qualify too if their precedents go back years and are well kept. Practice area does not change the estimate.

Making and checking the copy

Everything starts under NDA. The de-identified copy comes from License Your Data, our licensing partner, while your originals never leave your document management system. Nobody asks for a password, and none is shared. Any system, folder, client or matter can be excluded, and a sample comes to you for approval before anything goes out. There is no cost to your firm.

See the value of your firm's records

Within minutes, a License Your Data specialist calls to book a 15-minute call.

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