iManage Work Document Management for Legal Teams Training Course

Course overview

Legal teams lose time and create risk when matter documents, email correspondence, precedents and working drafts are stored inconsistently. Poor workspace structures, incomplete metadata, duplicate versions and uncontrolled sharing make it harder to locate the authoritative record, respond to disclosure requests, protect privilege and close matters cleanly. This course equips legal professionals to use iManage Work as a disciplined matter-management environment rather than simply a document repository.

Participants work through the full document lifecycle in iManage Work 10: creating and navigating workspaces, applying profiles and metadata, filing email from Microsoft Outlook, searching across matters, managing versions, using document history, applying security and collaborating through controlled access. The programme also covers iManage Drive for offline and desktop-based work, iManage Share for secure external collaboration, saved searches, filing standards, workspace hygiene and practical controls for high-risk matters. Participants learn repeatable methods for naming, profiling, filing, retrieving, reviewing and handing over legal content.

Delivery combines instructor demonstrations with guided work in an iManage Work training environment and legal-matter scenarios involving transactions, disputes and advisory work. Each participant builds a documented matter workspace plan, including folder structure, metadata rules, email-filing approach, search strategy, security decisions and closure checklist. This practical deliverable can be adapted for use on a live team, practice group or legal operations improvement initiative.

The course is suited to experienced legal professionals, legal operations staff, knowledge teams and document-management champions who already work with electronic matter files and need to establish more reliable, defensible iManage Work practices.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Create matter workspaces using consistent folder structures, profiles and metadata fields
• File legal documents and Microsoft Outlook email to the correct iManage Work workspace
• Execute targeted searches using metadata filters, operators, saved searches and recent-work views
• Manage document versions, check-in and check-out activity, history and authoritative copies
• Apply workspace and document security principles for confidential, restricted and ethical-wall matters
• Use iManage Drive to synchronise approved matter content while preserving filing discipline
• Prepare controlled external collaboration packages through iManage Share
• Produce a matter workspace governance plan with filing rules, ownership, retention and closure actions

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Solicitors and Attorneys — who must retrieve, file and protect matter records throughout legal work
• Paralegals and Legal Assistants — who maintain matter files and coordinate document and email filing
• Legal Operations Managers — who need consistent workspace practices across legal teams
• Knowledge Management Professionals — who govern precedents, metadata quality and findability
• Document Management Specialists — who support users and improve iManage Work adoption
• Practice Support Lawyers — who need controlled access to current precedents and matter knowledge

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be regular users of a Windows or browser-based workplace environment and have experience handling legal matter documents, email correspondence and versioned drafts. Familiarity with the basic purpose of iManage Work, such as opening a workspace, viewing folders and saving a document, is expected; this is not a first-time computer or document-management course. Participants should understand their organisation's confidentiality and information-barrier obligations. Prior administration experience, SQL, scripting, iManage configuration rights and knowledge of records-management law are not required. Training exercises use a controlled iManage environment.

Training methodology

An iManage specialist leads short demonstrations, then participants complete guided tasks in a realistic legal-matter training environment. Exercises cover opening a transaction workspace, filing Outlook correspondence, finding evidence across document sets, resolving version issues and setting controlled access for sensitive materials. Small-group case discussions examine the operational consequences of poor metadata, duplicate drafts and inappropriate sharing. On the final day, participants apply the methods to a chosen matter scenario and produce a practical workspace governance and adoption plan for review.

Course outline

Day 1: Matter workspaces, profiles and filing discipline

• iManage Work 10 interface, workspaces, tabs and navigation views
• Legal matter workspace anatomy and folder-structure design
• Document profiles, required metadata and matter-centric classification
• Naming conventions for contracts, pleadings, advice and correspondence
• Creating documents from templates and filing to the correct workspace
• Recent documents, favourites and matter worklists
• Workspace ownership, filing responsibilities and quality-control checkpoints

Workshop: Participants design and populate an iManage Work workspace for a new acquisition matter, producing a folder map, profile rules and filing responsibility matrix.

Day 2: Email, versions and authoritative records

• Microsoft Outlook integration and email filing workflows
• Filing sent, received and attachment-heavy legal correspondence
• Version creation, document history and authoritative-copy decisions
• Check-in, check-out and concurrent-editing controls
• Document comparison and review of draft changes
• Document links, related content and avoiding duplicate storage
• Correcting misfiled content and documenting filing exceptions

Workshop: Participants process a simulated negotiation inbox, filing email and attachments, resolving duplicate drafts and producing a verified matter correspondence record.

Day 3: Search, retrieval and knowledge reuse

• Quick search, advanced search and search-result refinement
• Metadata filters for client, matter, author, document type and date
• Full-text search operators, phrases and exclusion terms
• Searching document content, comments and email correspondence
• Saved searches, search folders and reusable retrieval patterns
• Search-result review for disclosure, due diligence and precedent research
• Metadata correction as a search-quality improvement method

Workshop: Participants build a saved-search set for a dispute review scenario and produce a defensible results list of responsive documents and email.

Day 4: Security, mobility and controlled collaboration

• Workspace and document security concepts in legal matter management
• Confidential matters, restricted access and ethical-wall considerations
• Security groups, need-to-know access and permission review methods
• iManage Drive synchronisation, offline work and conflict awareness
• iManage Share folders and controlled collaboration with external parties
• External-sharing permissions, expiry decisions and access revocation
• Risk assessment for local copies, links and shared matter content

Workshop: Participants configure a security and collaboration approach for a sensitive employment investigation, producing an access matrix and external-sharing checklist.

Day 5: Governance, adoption and matter lifecycle control

• Matter opening checklists and workspace provisioning requirements
• Filing standards for legal teams and practice-group operating rules
• Metadata stewardship, exception reporting and periodic workspace review
• Matter closure, final-record identification and handover controls
• Retention, disposition and records-management coordination principles
• User adoption measures, power-user support and desk-side coaching
• Building an iManage Work improvement roadmap and success metrics

Workshop: Participants produce and present a matter workspace governance plan containing opening, filing, search, security, review and closure controls for their selected legal scenario.

Tools & standards covered

iManage Work 10, iManage Drive, iManage Share, Microsoft Outlook

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions