Document Management for Law Firms — Practical Advice for UK Solicitors

Document management is one of those practice management challenges that firms solve imperfectly and then live with. The result is usually a patchwork: some documents in the case management system, some in email, some on a shared drive, some on someone's laptop.

It works, until it doesn't. A key document can't be found before a hearing. A fee earner leaves and takes institutional knowledge with them. A client asks for their file and someone has to spend two hours reconstructing it.

This post is about what a sensible approach looks like.

The core requirements

A document management system for a law firm needs to do three things reliably:

1. Store documents securely — with access control, backup, and audit trails
2. Connect documents to matters — so that everything related to a case is in one place
3. Allow documents to be found quickly — by matter, client, document type, date, or keyword

Everything else is secondary.

The problem with email-based storage

A significant proportion of legal documents never leave email. Correspondence is sent and received via Outlook, and the "file" for the matter is effectively the email thread.

This creates several problems:

Continuity. When a fee earner leaves or is on holiday, someone needs access to the email thread to understand the matter. That often means access to the individual's inbox — which is both a security problem and a practical one.

Version control. If a draft document has been sent back and forth three times, which version is current? If it lives in email, there is no obvious answer.

Archiving. When the matter closes, the file should be closed, archived, and retained for the appropriate period. That is hard to do if the file lives in multiple email inboxes.

Why SharePoint has become the standard

Microsoft SharePoint — via Microsoft 365 — has become the default document store for a large and growing number of UK law firms. The reasons are straightforward:

• Most firms already have Microsoft 365 licences
• SharePoint offers robust access control, version history, and audit trails
• Documents stay within the firm's own Microsoft tenant — important for data residency and client confidentiality
• Integration with Outlook and Teams makes it easy to file documents without leaving familiar tools

The challenge with SharePoint alone is that it does not have a matter-centric view by default. You can create a folder per matter, but there is no built-in connection between the document store and the practice management system.

Matter-centric document management

The best approach links the practice management system to SharePoint so that documents are stored in SharePoint, but accessed from within the matter workspace.

When you open a matter, you see all the related documents — not because they are duplicated in the case management system, but because the system is showing you the SharePoint folder for that matter. You can upload, open, and manage documents directly, without switching applications.

This means documents live in your Microsoft tenant (which your IT team and compliance officer will appreciate), while the practice management system provides the matter-centric view that fee earners actually need.

A few practical points

Naming conventions matter. A consistent naming convention for documents — agreed across the firm and enforced — saves significant time on retrieval. "Letter to client 24 March" is not enough. "Smith_JohnSmithvABC_LetterToClient_20260324" is searchable and unambiguous.

Version control is not optional. If you are working on documents that go through multiple drafts, version history is essential. SharePoint provides this automatically — but only if documents are stored there rather than emailed back and forth as attachments.

Access control requires thought. Who should be able to see what? Matters involving sensitive personal data — family law, employment, medical negligence — may require tighter access controls than commercial files. Set this up deliberately, not by accident.

OrdoLux is legal case management software designed around the matter — keeping everything in one place from file opening to close.

Where OrdoLux fits

OrdoLux integrates with Microsoft 365 — documents are stored in your SharePoint tenant and linked directly to matters. Fee earners access them from within the matter workspace without switching applications.

The platform also handles matter management, time recording, billing, KYC via Checkboard, Stripe payments, and electronic signatures.

See all features or book a demo.