Case Tracking, Instructional, Tutorial

OneNote for Case Research and Legal Notes

Posted on by Jeff Kirksey

Attorneys and legal professionals often need a structured way to organize case research, deposition notes, and client communications. Microsoft OneNote in Office 365 provides a digital notebook for efficiently managing legal notes, annotations, and case references in a secure and accessible format.

This tutorial will walk you through creating and structuring a legal case notebook in OneNote to streamline your research and documentation.

Step 1: Create a New Case Notebook

  1. Open OneNote and click File > New.
  2. Choose OneDrive – Your Firm as the storage location for secure access and compliance.
  3. Name the notebook using a structured format, such as:
    • “Case Research – [Client Name] – [Matter ID]”
  4. Click Create.

📂 Best Practice: Using OneDrive storage ensures automatic syncing and backup of your legal notes.

Step 2: Organize Sections for Case Research

  1. Click Add Section and create the following:
    • Pleadings & Filings
    • Deposition Notes
    • Statutes & Case Law
    • Client & Witness Statements
    • Tasks & Deadlines
  2. Within each section, click Add Page to create specific notes for filings, key arguments, or legal references.

🔍 Efficiency Tip: Use color-coded sections to quickly differentiate between research topics.

  1. Go to a case section and click Insert > File Printout.
  2. Select a PDF or Word document (e.g., court filings, client agreements, deposition transcripts).
  3. The document will appear as a scanned image in the notebook.
  4. Use the Draw tool to highlight or annotate important text.

📜 Compliance Note: Avoid storing confidential case files in unsecured OneNote notebooks. Use SharePoint for sensitive documents.

Step 4: Use Tags for Quick Retrieval of Key Information

  1. Highlight an important legal note.
  2. Click Home > Tags and select:
    • Important (⭐) for case-critical notes.
    • Question (❓) for unresolved legal issues.
    • Follow-Up (📌) for pending research or actions.
  3. To find tagged notes, click Find Tags to generate a summary of key points.

🔖 Organization Tip: Using tags allows attorneys to quickly reference case insights without searching through pages.

  1. Click File > Share and select your legal team members.
  2. Choose Can Edit or Can View permissions based on roles.
  3. Click Send Link to share.

🔐 Security Note: Always share notebooks using restricted permissions to protect client confidentiality.

Conclusion

By organizing case research, legal notes, and document references in OneNote, attorneys can improve efficiency, collaboration, and compliance. Features like tagging, document annotation, and structured sections help legal teams manage case insights effectively.