SharePoint Legal Document Management (Beginner’s Guide)

Last Updated on November 17, 2023

Thinking of using SharePoint as a legal document management system?

In this guide, I will walk you through the steps you need to create a legal document management system using SharePoint Online.

Let’s get started

Table of Contents:

What is SharePoint Online?
Why use SharePoint for legal document management?
How to set up SharePoint as a legal document management system
Use SharePoint for effective legal document management

What is SharePoint Online?

In simple terms, SharePoint is a product that you can use to create websites for the organization’s intranet.

It allows organizations, including the legal industry, to create secure websites, or sites, for the following reasons:

Store and organize documents
Share and management documents and other information

For the legal industry, SharePoint Online is a great secure, and centralized location for managing sensitive case files, contracts, and legal documents.

You can also customize SharePoint to meet the specific needs of law firms and legal departments through templates, add-ons, and integrations.

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Why use SharePoint for legal document management?

I have already mentioned some of the reasons why SharePoint is great for document management in general.

But here are the benefits of using SharePoint Online as a legal document management system:

SharePoint provides a single, secure location for storing and organizing legal documents where members can easily access and collaborate on files.
Multiple users can work on the same document/list/document library simultaneously, streamlining teamwork and improving efficiency.
The built-in security features are robust, with features like access control and permission settings to protect sensitive legal information.
The version control feature tracks the changes made to documents and maintains a version history so users can easily revert to previous versions when needed.
You easily automate various legal processes like document approvals or contract reviews to reduce manual tasks and increase productivity.
Comes with customizable templates, add-ons, and integrations with apps like Microsoft Teams — enhancing the functionality for legal document management.

Not counting the fact that if your legal team or law firm is already using Microsoft 365, then you’re already home.

How to set up SharePoint as a legal document management system

With the basics out of the way, let’s get into the meat of this article — how to create the system itself.

Many of the steps below contain links to articles I previously wrote that expound more on the step I will be explaining.

Step #1: Determine the requirements

Much like everything else, the first work revolves around the blueprint and planning.

In this case, you need a thorough assessment of your organization’s specific needs and the factors that will influence the design and functionality of the site/sites.

Some of the key aspects to consider are the following:

1. Type of documents

You need to identify the various legal documents your organization handles and understand their scope and variety.

Examples of documents may include:

Contracts
Case files
Court filings
Internal memos
Policies

This part is important since it will help you design an appropriate folder structure, document libraries, and metadata schema.

2. Users and their roles

Next are the users — determine who will access the legal documents and what their roles will be.

Some of the staff you may have are:

Attorneys
Paralegals
Admin staff
External collaborators

By understanding their roles, you will be able to configure the right permissions and access levels so each user has the necessary access to relevant documents.

3. Security and compliance

After the documents, you need to assess the security and compliance requirements for your legal document management system.

This may involve the following:

Data protection regulations
Client confidentiality agreements
Internal policies

Based on these requirements, you can design your SharePoint site to meet the necessary security standards and implement security features.

4. Collaboration and workflow needs

It’s also important to identify the collaboration and workflow processes that are or might be essential for your legal team.

This may include:

Document co-authoring
Document review and approval
Case management

By understanding them, you will be able to leverage the right features and tools in SharePoint to automate and streamline these processes.

5. Integration with other tools

While SharePoint also integrates well with Microsoft apps like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Teams, etc., you need to consider other tools/software you might use.

For example, you might be using the following in your team:

E-discovery tools
Case management software
Digital signature solutions

Many of the tools might already have integration with SharePoint. If not, knowing early on will help you find a way to integrate or even a workaround solution.

Step #2: Set up the SharePoint sites/site collections

In SharePoint, there are various site templates you can use.

However, I strongly recommend to only use modern sites:

Team sites
Communication sites

This is also where the planning and assessment in the previous step gear its head as you start to consider what type of site collection to create and how many.

In choosing between a team site and a communication site for SharePoint document management, refer to the following table:

Feature	Team Site	Communication Site
Primary Purpose	Collaboration among team members	Sharing information and updates across the organization
Document Management	Built-in document library for organizing documents	Requires manual setup of document libraries
Collaboration Features	Calendars, task lists, Microsoft Teams integration	Limited collaboration features
Permissions	Fine-grained control at site, library, or document level	Typically more open permissions
Information Sharing	Focused on team-level communication and document sharing	Focused on one-way, organization-wide communication
Use Case for Legal Documents	Managing legal projects, cases, and secure document storage	Sharing legal updates, news, or policies with a broader audience

You can see that generally, a team site is more suitable due to its focus on collaboration, built-in document libraries, and fine-grained permission controls.

A communication site though is still useful for sharing legal updates or information with a wider audience — so there’s definitely a use case for each site type.

How to create a Sharepoint site

So how do you create a site? Well, it’s simple — click the home button > create site in your SharePoint environment.

The next step is to choose between the two sites. More or less, the next steps are similar.

For example, if you create a communication site, simply click its box (and do the same if it’s a team site you’re creating).

You will then need to supply the required information for your site like the site name, site address, etc.

SharePoint will also offer to view and apply templates after creating the site — which you can do from there if you have a site template in mind.

From there, you can do more customization as you wish, such as adding web parts to pages, creating a landing page, and more.

Step #3: Set up document libraries

Since we’re dealing with documents here, the next step is to create document libraries.

Document libraries serve as the primary storage and organization containers for your legal documents which makes them easily accessible and manageable.

Fortunately, creating a new document library is easy.

Simply click the new button on the site > document library option:

Click on new and then document library to create a new one

You will then have to give the library a meaningful name — like contracts or litigation files — and do this for each separate library.

The next part is to configure the library settings.

Open the library and click the gear icon on the upper-right corner > library settings:

That will open the right panel and provide you with an option to see more library settings.

The next page is where you will be able to do the following:

Step #4: Create a clear folder structure

Many of the users in the law firms might be familiar with the folder hierarchy since it’s what we use in our computer systems.

While I personally prefer well-organized libraries to folders, there may be some users who are more comfortable with folders.

On the other hand, a well-planned folder structure can also help to prevent duplication, reduce clutter, and streamline navigation.

If you want to use a folder, simply head over to a document library > new button > folder option:

According to your assessment in step #1, you will need to develop a folder hierarchy to categorize documents in a logical and consistent manner.

For example:

Document type (contracts, litigation, intellectual property)
Department (human resources, finance, operations)

Step #5: Set up metadata

If you have read the linked articles in step #3, you can skip this one out. If not, just read on.

For starters, metadata provides additional information about a document like its title, author, and date created.

You can add metadata columns to document libraries and lists by clicking the add column button and choosing the column type:

You need to analyze the types of legal and client documents you have and determine what metadata is most relevant to your needs.

Some examples include:

Document type
Case number
Client name
Author
Creation date
Status

It’s easier if you keep in mind that metadata is useful for searching, sorting, and filtering documents.

You will need to monitor and update metadata as needed to ensure they remain relevant and useful for your organization.

Step #6: Configure permissions

This step is important since it’s for maintaining the security and confidentiality of your legal documents.

Setting permissions properly means that only authorized users can access, edit, or manage specific documents or areas of the site.

You need to understand the different permission levels first:

Full control
Design
Edit
Contribute
Read
Limited access

Study them first and their associated permissions so you will know which ones are appropriate for different user groups.

Creating user groups based on roles or responsibilities will simplify the process and make it easier to manage access.

For example, you can groups users into:

Attorneys
Paralegals
Admin staff

There are a lot of ways to create a group, the most popular one is through the Microsoft 365 admin center (active teams and groups):

Click the add a group button in the Microsoft 365 admin center

You can then assign permissions at three levels:

Site level (go to the site settings > site permissions)
Library level (go to the library settings > permissions for this document library)
Individual document (click the ellipsis on the file and select manage access)

Step #7: Configure versioning and approval workflow processes

This step is necessary to ensure that you maintain control over document changes for accuracy and compliance with regulations.

By default, versioning is already enabled in libraries (though minor versioning, for small changes made to the document, is disabled).

If you want to enable even minor versioning on a document library, head over to its library settings page.

Then go to the versioning settings:

You will then find various options for versioning, including the option to create both major and minor versions.

On the same page, you will find an option for enabling content approval:

Require content approval for submitted items

When it’s enabled, changes to existing items will remain in a draft state until an approver approves the changes made.

You can also set up a content approval workflow though using Power Automate right within the document library:

Using Power Automate to create a page approval flow

That’s also where you can set up workflow conditions. There are a lot of templates there you can use.

Step #8: Train users

After you finish setting up everything in the previous steps, you need to think about training users to utilize the platform effectively.

There are a few items I want to go over:

Create tailored training materials and cover topics that they will need to know in everyday use of SharePoint.
Select the most effective training formats for your users (in-person workshops, webinars, videos, written guides, etc.)
Schedule and conduct training sessions and provide ample opportunities for them to ask you questions.
Provide ongoing support after the initial training — which may include follow-up sessions, creating a helpdesk, etc.
Keep track of how well users are adopting the legal document management system in place and use the information to improve the system.

Use SharePoint for effective legal document management

Make use of SharePoint’s robust features to establish an effective and efficient legal document management system.

With the full potential of SharePoint, you can manage your legal documents, and ensure compliance, security, and ease of access for stakeholders.

Do you have any questions regarding the steps I explained in this article? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

For inquiries and other concerns, kindly reach out through the site’s contact form and I’ll get back to you asap.