Knowledge Base
Your firm's internal wiki — precedents, best practices, how-to guides, and institutional knowledge in one searchable place.
Overview
Every law firm accumulates knowledge over time: how to handle a particular type of transaction, the approach that worked (and didn't) in a recent case, firm policy on a billing question, the best precedent clause for a specific situation. In most firms, this knowledge lives in the heads of experienced attorneys, in email archives, or in personal folders — inaccessible to anyone else and lost when the attorney leaves.
The Knowledge Base module is the firm's internal wiki. It stores articles, precedents, best practices, how-to guides, and policies in a searchable, categorised, tagged library that every team member can access. New attorneys can find answers without interrupting seniors. Best practices can be documented once and referenced everywhere. Institutional knowledge is preserved regardless of staff turnover.
Article Categories
Precedent
Precedent clauses, standard agreements, model orders, and template language. The "go-to" category for legal drafting references. Articles in this category should include the context in which the precedent is appropriate.
Best Practice
Documented guidance on how the firm approaches a specific type of work: the preferred structure for a commercial agreement review, the checklist for opening a litigation matter, the standard client communication practice for property transactions.
How-To
Step-by-step guides for specific tasks: how to file in a particular court, how to complete a specific regulatory form, how to handle a type of transaction the firm encounters occasionally.
Policy
Firm policies: billing policy, file management policy, conflict check policy, client communication standards, data protection procedures. Policies should be reviewed and re-approved annually.
Template Note
Notes associated with specific document templates — instructions on how to use them, what to customise, when they are appropriate, and what jurisdictional variations to consider.
Other
Anything that doesn't fit the above categories: interesting cases, regulatory updates, commentary on recent legislative changes, industry news relevant to the firm's practice areas.
Creating an Article
Open Knowledge Base and click + New Article
Click Knowledge Base in the sidebar under Firm Operations. Click + New Article to open the article editor.
Enter a title and summary
Give the article a clear, specific title that makes it findable in search. Add a one or two sentence summary that appears on the article card in the library view — this helps team members quickly decide if the article is what they need without opening it.
Write the content
Write the article content using the rich text editor. Use headings, numbered lists for processes, and code blocks for clause templates. Link to related articles where relevant. Keep articles focused: one topic, one article. A 300-word article that answers one question precisely is more useful than a 3,000-word article that covers ten things.
Set category and practice area
Select the category (Precedent, Best Practice, How-To, Policy, Template Note, or Other) and optionally the practice area (Litigation, Conveyancing, Corporate, etc.). These drive filtering in the library.
Add tags
Add tags for more granular discovery. Tags are free-form keywords: "indemnification", "NSW Supreme Court", "AML", "fixed fee". Team members searching for these terms will find the article.
Publish or save as draft
Set the status to Published to make the article visible to all team members. Save as Draft to continue editing before publishing. Administrators can pin important articles to the top of the knowledge base.
Article Signals
Each article displays usage signals to help identify the most valuable content:
Building a useful knowledge base
- • Start with the questions you answer most often. If three different juniors have asked you the same question this year, write the answer as a knowledge base article. Next time, point them to the article instead of repeating yourself.
- • Write articles immediately after a matter closes while the knowledge is fresh: what you learned, what worked, what you would do differently. Matter-completion knowledge articles are the most valuable kind because they capture real experience, not just theory.
- • Review and update articles at least annually. Outdated guidance is worse than no guidance — it creates false confidence. Set a calendar reminder to review articles in your practice area each year.
- • Use the Helpful button when an article helps you. This signals to administrators which articles are the most valuable and should be reviewed more frequently to stay current.
- • Search before you write. The knowledge base is only useful if it doesn\'t have ten overlapping articles on the same topic. Search for existing articles on the topic before creating a new one — update existing content rather than duplicating it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can create and edit articles?
Any team member with access to the Knowledge Base module can create articles. Only the article author and administrators can edit or delete an article. Administrators can assign co-authorship to allow another team member to edit a specific article. This ensures articles are maintained by people with relevant expertise.
Is the Knowledge Base searchable?
Yes. The search bar searches article titles, summaries, content, and tags simultaneously. Use the category and practice area filters alongside search to narrow results. The search is full-text — entering "indemnification clause commercial lease" will find articles containing all of those terms.
Can I export the Knowledge Base?
Yes. Administrators can export the full knowledge base as a CSV (article metadata only) or as a ZIP of PDF exports of each article. The export function is available under Knowledge Base → Export Library.
Can knowledge base articles be linked to matters?
Yes. From any matter, you can search and link knowledge base articles in the matter's Notes tab. This creates a persistent reference: the next attorney who picks up the matter can see exactly which firm guidance was applied to this type of work.