Know-How

Your firm's know-how, surfaced in context

Know-How finds the precedents, prior matters, templates, practice notes, and the experts behind them across your DMS and wikis. It is permission-aware and information-barrier respecting, so it only ever surfaces what a given fee earner is entitled to see.

The problem

The firm already knows this. Now you can find it.

A litigation associate picks up a matter with a novel regulatory issue the corporate team handled eighteen months ago, but the firm's search can't connect the two. The work is redone from scratch while the answer sits in a document system that is searchable in name only.

Without governance

What goes wrong

  • Teams redo work because they never learn of each other's expertise
  • Know-how systems are full but never surface at the right moment
  • Information-barrier compliance rests on manual checks and memory
How it works

From your question to a governed answer

Not a black box. Every step is visible, checkable, and governed. Here's exactly what happens when you use the Know-How.

1

The agent reads the matter

It picks up the context: practice area, jurisdiction, client, matter type, and key issues. That context drives everything it surfaces.

2

Barriers and conflicts are checked first

Information barriers, ethical walls, and the Conflict Check run before anything is shown. A fee earner on the wrong side of a wall never sees the restricted material, and the attempt is logged.

3

The right knowledge is found and ranked

Precedents, past advice, and practice notes are matched to the context, not just the keywords. A 'data breach notification' matter surfaces ICO guidance even if those words aren't typed.

4

The right people are surfaced too

Who has run matters like this, who wrote the precedents, who has the sector experience — and how they connect.

5

Results come with context

Each result explains why it fits, when it was last used, by whom, and on what kind of matter. You get a precedent you can rely on, not a list of hits.

Governance pipeline for every output

Every know-how output flows through the same three-stage pipeline.

Input

Verify

Comply

Prove

Governed

Full capabilities

Everything the Know-How can do

Every capability runs on our own legal database and through the same governance — checked, compliant, and logged.

  • Precedent and prior-matter search that reads the context, across iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint, and your wikis
  • Practice notes and templates surfaced by matter type, jurisdiction, and client
  • The people behind the work — who drafted the precedent, who ran the matter, who has the sector depth
  • Information barriers and ethical walls enforced on every search, before any result is shown
  • Usage analytics showing your most-reused precedents and where the gaps are
  • A nudge when a new matter matches expertise the firm already holds

Who the Know-How is for

  • Fee earners who want the right precedent without hunting for it
  • Knowledge management teams tracking usage and finding the gaps
  • Partners keeping quality consistent across teams

Governance guarantee

Information barriers are enforced by the agent itself, not bolted on afterwards. Access controls, confidentiality walls, and matter restrictions are checked before any result is generated — with a full record of who saw what, when, and why.

In practice

Real scenarios, real outcomes

How different roles in your firm would use the Know-How — with specific scenarios and governed outcomes.

Litigation associate

Scenario

Picking up a professional-negligence claim on an architect's duty of care, needing precedents and any past firm work.

Governed outcome

Three precedents from the construction team, two practice notes on the measure of damages, and a partner who ran a similar claim — barriers checked, no conflicts.

Knowledge management team

Scenario

Annual review of the firm's knowledge: where coverage is strong, where the gaps are, what's used most and least.

Governed outcome

A dashboard of precedent use by practice area, the most-used know-how, and gaps to fill.

Partner

Scenario

Pitching for work in a sector where the track record is scattered across teams.

Governed outcome

A cross-team expertise map — relevant matters, key contacts, and the precedent work that proves capability — ready in minutes.

What makes this different

Built for legal work, not relabelled for it

It understands the matter, not just keywords

Context-driven retrieval surfaces the right work even when the words don't match.

Barriers built in, not bolted on

Ethical walls are enforced before results are generated, not filtered out afterwards.

It offers before you search

When a new matter matches expertise the firm holds, it surfaces the work unprompted.

It finds the people, not just the documents

Finding the precedent is half the job; finding the person who can explain the nuance is the other half.

Built on our own legal database

The Know-How checks every output against BAILII, legislation.gov.uk, EUR-Lex, and our own legal database — a curated, constantly updated source we built in-house for faster checking. It's our own work, and it lets us cross-reference across jurisdictions in ways the public sources can't on their own.

Built-in governance

How Verify, Comply, Prove works for the Know-How

Every agent on LegalAI Space runs through the same three steps. Here's exactly what that means for know-how outputs.

01Verify

Surfaced knowledge checked for currency

Precedents and know-how go stale. We check that what surfaces is still good to rely on, and that any law it cites is current.

For know-how outputs
  • Has the relevant law or regulation moved since the precedent was last used?
  • Legal references in the know-how re-checked against BAILII, legislation.gov.uk, or EUR-Lex
  • Is this the latest approved version of the precedent, or a superseded draft?
  • Is the named expert still at the firm and active in the area?
02Comply

Barriers enforced on every search

Access controls and ethical walls are not optional. They are enforced on every search and every result, with the Conflict Check mapped to SRA rules 6.1 and 6.2.

For know-how outputs
  • Matter-level barriers checked before any result is shown
  • Client-level conflict screening applied to what surfaces (SRA 6.1/6.2)
  • Practice-area walls respected between teams, including time-limited barriers
  • Attempts to cross a wall logged and escalated to the conflicts team
03Prove

A full access log

Every interaction is logged — what was searched, what surfaced, what was opened, and which barriers were checked. The record is ready for the conflicts team and for inspection.

For know-how outputs
  • Search log: the query context, barriers checked, results returned
  • Access log: which results were opened, by whom, and when
  • Barrier log: which walls were checked and which blocked access
  • Usage analytics: precedent reuse, knowledge gaps, and team expertise maps

Further Reading

Further reading for the Know-How

Guides on the work the Know-How does — and the governance behind it.

Try the Know-How on a real matter

Get early access and run the Know-How on your firm's work — or book a pilot call to scope what you need.

Important notices
  1. 01

    LegalAI Space is a technology platform. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice. AI agents assist with legal work but do not replace qualified legal counsel or professional judgement.

  2. 02

    Agent capabilities described on this page represent planned or in-development functionality. Final capabilities may vary.

  3. 03

    References to regulatory frameworks (SRA Standards and Regulations, EU AI Act) are for informational purposes. Compliance checking is automated and rule-based — it does not constitute a legal opinion.