Legal practices

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

Privilege is what law firms ask about first. This is how scope works when the records belong to a firm.

Where the value tends to be

What makes a law firm's records most useful is usually how the firm operates, not any single client. Think of the material a firm builds up to make its lawyers better:

Templates and precedent banks, and how they changed over time
Research memos, issue checklists and training material
Workflow records on how matters are opened, staffed and closed
Internal know-how notes written after a change in the law

The first worry: privilege

Anything privileged is removed. What may be included depends on your engagement terms and professional duties, and your firm and its own counsel make those decisions. Legal advice is not something we offer. You and your counsel agree the scope before anything is prepared, and material you regard as privileged or confidential is excluded.

Client matters can be left out completely

Many firms exclude every client matter and include just their internal know-how. That is a complete scope on its own. If your firm and counsel do decide to include some matter records, names and identifiers are replaced with placeholders in the copy, including clients, opposing parties and your own lawyers and staff.

Making and checking the copy

Everything starts under NDA. License Your Data, our licensing partner, prepares a de-identified copy, and your originals never leave your document management system. No passwords are ever asked for or shared. Any system, folder, client or matter can be excluded, and a sample comes to you for approval before anything goes out. Your firm pays nothing.

A typical fit

The usual fit is a firm of at least 20 full-time people with 3 or more years of records kept in Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or a document management system. A smaller firm with years of well kept precedents can qualify as well. Your practice area has no effect on the estimate.

Questions owners in this field ask

Is every system needed?: No. A single well kept system, like a precedent bank or knowledge library, may be enough to begin the conversation.
Who on our side should be involved?: Normally a managing partner, the person who runs document management, and the counsel your firm turns to on questions like this.
Will this change the way we practice?: No. Your lawyers carry on in the same systems, and client service stays exactly as it is.

Find out what your records might be worth

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