Case management on Microsoft 365: keeping Outlook and SharePoint, adding the workflow

Most owner-managed firms already pay for Microsoft 365. Email is in Outlook, documents are in SharePoint or OneDrive, and conversations happen in Teams. The traditional route to case management asks the firm to move matters, documents and often email into a separate system, then keep the two in step forever. There is another route: leave the tools that work where they are, and add the workflow the firm is actually missing.

What firms are usually missing

In our experience the gap is rarely somewhere to store documents. It is structure:

• a new matter process that runs the same way every time, so steps are not missed
• emails filed to the right matter without someone dragging them into a folder
• deadlines and key dates that sit with the matter, not in one person's calendar
• time recorded while the work is done, not reconstructed on a Friday
• a view of every matter's status that does not depend on asking around

Why control of your records matters

Whatever system you choose, the firm stays answerable for its records. Paragraph 2.2 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms requires you to keep records to demonstrate compliance, and paragraph 3.3(b) requires you to make sure that information held by third parties carrying out functions critical to your legal services is available for inspection by the SRA. The rules do not prescribe any particular architecture. They do mean you should know where your records are and be able to get at them.

Data protection points the same way. Where a supplier processes personal data on your firm's behalf as a processor, Article 28 of the UK GDPR requires a binding processing contract, and Article 32 requires appropriate security. Check the supplier's role for each relevant activity, alongside access, security, subprocessors and international transfers. And remember that where your documents are stored is only part of the picture: ask where the application itself runs, and where matter data, logs and backups sit.

What to look for in a Microsoft 365 approach

• Does it work inside Outlook, so filing, deadlines and time recording happen where the email is?
• Do documents stay in your SharePoint, in a structure you can read without the system?
• Where does the application run, and where do matter data, logs and backups sit?
• What permissions does it need in your Microsoft 365, and can your IT team see and control them?
• Does the new matter process run in a fixed order, with compliance steps built in rather than bolted on?
• If you stopped using it tomorrow, what would you still have?

That last question is the one to ask any supplier. We go through the rest in choosing case management for a small firm.

How CaseMinder works with Microsoft 365

CaseMinder works with Outlook and your firm's SharePoint, keeping matter documents in a location your firm controls. An Outlook add-in handles filing, deadlines and time recording. The matter-opening workflow brings together conflict checks, onboarding, identity and AML checks, risk assessment and the client care letter. Your IT team can find the Microsoft 365 permissions it asks for in the Microsoft 365 playbook.

See how CaseMinder works or book a walkthrough.