Best Practices

A simple, easy to understand, legal taxonomy will be more quickly adopted than one with complexities and lots of exceptions, but even a simple taxonomy will need to be “sold” to employees. The roles of user input, leadership, and a Taxonomy Champion are paramount. In this legal document taxonomy video, we discuss some of the best practices in developing and deploying a new legal taxonomy.

Taxonomy Development

The first step in revising or building a taxonomy should always be to evaluate the effectiveness of current conventions. What works well for the entire firm? Which standards only work well for specific practice areas or users? Which conventions serve little or no purpose? The method for creating the new legal document taxonomy is as simple as translating what is beneficial into the new system and discarding the rest.

If a firm, for example, follows the convention that certain template and master documents in each matter should be read-only for most people (so as to preserve them as templates,) that convention should be translated into the new taxonomy as a standard within each matter, saving user effort and ensuring consistent application of the best practice.

Current conventions work well as a guide, because they evolve from users’ natural innovations. They match how the firm thinks and works, and they feel familiar. Of course, if standards have been very loosely applied, the exceptions can be more common than the rule, and while some users may have a natural inclination for developing intuitive standards, not everyone is so lucky. This often creates the need for a redesigned system in the first place.

Of course, defining and implementing a new legal document taxonomy is not only an opportunity to promote good practices but also bury bad ones. Firms shouldn’t be held hostage by yesterday’s mistakes. Unfortunately, systems that have failed to meet a firm's needs can become standards on which the new system or taxonomy is built. For instance, if a law firm uses a “miscellaneous” classification for documents, and the classification has been over-used, then that standard should be jettisoned from system.

While the process of developing or revising a formal legal document taxonomy is not necessarily painful, it does require focus and effort, as it is often larger and more important than first thought. A well designed system will be tepidly accepted by users. A poorly designed system will be outright rejected.

But don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. All too often legal document taxonomy discussions come to gridlock because firms try to find rules that match every exception, and compromise between everyone’s preferences. Keep on track by identifying important attributes and functions of documents rather than getting mired in too many details and “what ifs”.

Typically, firms go through two to three iterations of the legal document taxonomy before being prepared to implement. The first one is really just a starting point, something that may be more general than specific but will represent the initial work done by the team. The second and third iterations will incorporate more detail. Keeping this in mind, allow enough time to develop and analyze each iteration the taxonomy just enough to determine if it's ready for final approval.

The Right Approach to a Legal Document Management Project

Like all IT projects and new business initiatives, a legal document management search should begin with a business problem and end with a solution, not the other way around. Interviewing vendors and products before establishing the goals and requirements of the project usually leads to unjustified expenses and wasted time.


That’s not to say some research doesn’t help to inform requirements gathering. Knowing what’s possible in general terms will make the requirement realistic, but that information shouldn’t be allowed to pollute the conversation and skew the requirements toward justification or toward a particular product.


Conversations about a business problem should remain product neutral and vendor agnostic as late as possible. Before considering solutions, build a requirements document that describes the current environment, causes of the problem, and the firm’s tolerance for change and additional expenses should be understood.

Starting to consider document management systems

A document management system solves certain kinds of business problems, namely problems with collaboration, email bloat, compliance, knowledge share, archiving, document retention, or simply finding documents. Because of the expense of these systems, firms will typically need to have problems in more than one area to justify a new document management system, though a problem with finding documents is the starting place for most firms.


Considerations of the current document management system, if even just Windows folders and naming conventions, will also help inform the choice of a new system. For instance, if losing documents is a problem because no one bothers to follow naming conventions, then a document management system that is cumbersome to use when saving new documents won’t fit well. If email inbox bloat is a primary concern then the system will need a quick way to save messages.


Once the business problem and primary goals have been defined, then the criteria for evaluating new systems should be obvious. Pick the system that best addresses the issues the firm actually has, not the bells and whistles that aren’t listed on the formal requirements document.

What not to do

The inverse of this is to start looking at document management systems and then try to justify the cost by exaggerating the problems it solves and minimizing the problems it doesn’t solve. Most commonly, firms do this when trying to justify staying with the same product or vendor through an upgrade. If the product isn’t working, then it should be scrapped and replaced by something that is worth its investment.


Technology is supposed to be an asset to a company, not just another utility that needs to be paid. Expect more from your software, and put it in writing through a formal requirements document.

Why Develop a Custom Taxonomy

The taxonomy development process is one of the most important steps toward successfully installing a document management system. Firms that try to sideline the project by adopting someone else’s taxonomy or simply copying their old taxonomy, rarely get the same kinds production gains that firms that embrace the project can have.


Taking the time to develop a unique taxonomy can be very rewarding for a few reasons.

• Every firm works differently, custom taxonomy addresses those differences. Some firms with multiple practice areas will actually need to develop taxonomies for each of those practices. One size might not fit all, even within the same firm.


• Taxonomy makes the right thing to do, the easy thing to do. Changing taxonomies or trying to enforce unpopular taxonomies can be very difficult. When a taxonomy really fits a firm well, then it will be enthusiastically accepted because it is easier than doing things the wrong way.


• More collaboration means better user adoption. Poor adoption of the old system is probably the reason that a new system needs to be considered. Going through a full document taxonomy process brings everyone in the firm together around the idea of having a new taxonomy, and if done well, it helps to produce a superior one.

The process and product of document taxonomy informs the document management system choice because it elevates the sophistication of the analysis. Instead of choosing a document management system based on price, references, and brand, a company with a good taxonomy can choose a system on its ability to enforce the taxonomy, compliment the way the firm works, and streamline document production.

Legal Document Management Consultant

“Can a Legal Document Taxonomy be developed in house?”

Most firms will need to hire outside consultants to direct the taxonomy defining process and implement that taxonomy into a document management system. Outside consultants have a much better perspective to make changes because they aren’t mired in the muck of running a law firm, and they usually have experience with identical projects for other firms.

Some legal document management products are predisposed or limited to certain taxonomies and the consultant needs to have expertise in all of the implied intricacies. The more robust legal document management products can be customized to meet very specific document taxonomy requirements. Implementing these higher end products almost always requires outside consultants because of the complexity of the project.

The entire process, however, can’t be outsourced. Firms still need an abundance of user input, a designated taxonomy champion, executive sponsorship, and IT support to implement successfully a new taxonomy. The outside consultant simply facilitates the design, and ensures that the design will fit into the desired document management system.

The current menu of legal document management systems is large enough that almost every firm should be able to find one that fits. Law firms very rarely need to look at startup products or cut-over products from other industries to find a system that meets their requirements. The major legal DMS's – Autonomy iManage, Worldox, and OpenText – have established track records and represent a good range of approaches.

Choosing a Document Taxonomy Consultant

Of course, the consultant should have a technical background in the document management product being used or implemented. Both the product and the company must have demonstrated success in the legal market. Law Firms have unique ways of handling documents, and it’s important to get that right.

The consultant should also have experience similarly sized firms and sometimes even the area of law practiced at the firm. Small and mid-sized law firms have significantly different requirements than large firms. The process of developing a taxonomy and the final product of that process can look extremely dissimilar between different sized firms.

Many national and local companies have demonstrated success in designing legal document taxonomies and implementing document management systems. Go with a platform and a vendor that has proven successful with other firms.

Reviewing Taxonomy After the Document Management Implementation

Just as a law firm will grow and evolve over time so also must its document taxonomy, but making changes too quickly or without long hard consideration can create all kinds of problems. A little well-placed red tape can help law firms create a stable but evolving system.

Law Firms should avoid making any changes to a document taxonomy for 6 months following implementation to allow adequate time for adoption and thoughtful evaluation. At that point, criticism and suggestions related to the system should be considered and perhaps reflected in changes to it.

One source for changes could be newly discovered requirements and challenges. It is not unusual for a circumstance to come up that hadn't been considered previously. For example, a law firm may add a new practice area, or a firm may discover that certain clients require a distinct filing categories.

Everything will not fit into the initially created mold, and it’s OK to make thoughtful, consistent changes to meet new challenges when necessary. A document taxonomy should be grown and adapted, not discarded, to address new opportunities.

Perhaps the best way to field feedback on the taxonomy is through a law firm’s taxonomy committee with a chair person, or a document taxonomy champion. The committee should be a collaborative effort between IT, administration, and users within the law firm so as to include both the technical and functional views. Quarterly or semiannual meetings of this group to discuss best practices and future needs are normally adequate.

Finally, it is important to evaluate the document taxonomy’s effectiveness on an ongoing basis. Are people using it? Are they using it correctly? Are there areas that need to be improved to enhance their productivity? Has the law firm significantly changed since it was created?

Ongoing training & enforcement of the system’s usage as well as firm best practices are critical to keeping things running smoothly. Good document management systems help with enforcement, and intuitive design with a clear way to provide feedback encourages best practices adoption.

Transitioning to a new document management system

There are several critical success factors to developing and deploying a new document taxonomy and document management system. Transitioning documents out of the old system in an effective way is key to good user adoption because it minimizes the disruption and it encourages end user adoption. Training is also very important. In this video, we discuss these and other best practices for making the transition.