Panel urges legal-aid offices to use existing Microsoft tools to improve knowledge management

Annie Helms, director and counsel for U.S. pro bono programs at DLA Piper, opened a morning session titled “Knowledge Management is Not AI” and urged legal-aid organizations to focus on using technology they already pay for rather than investing in new platforms.

The panel, which included Vivian Hessel of Legal Aid Chicago and Microsoft productivity staff, framed the problem as one of process and adoption: overflowing inboxes, difficulty finding files, reluctance to share drafts and concerns about client-data security make collaboration inefficient. “Email is the bane of my existence,” Vivian Hessel said, describing how email becomes a de facto document store and fragments work.

Why it matters: presenters said consolidating documents in SharePoint and using structured intake forms can cut repetitive messaging, make documents searchable and establish a single authoritative copy for each matter — a change that reduces duplicated effort and eases collaboration with pro bono law firms.

DLA Piper’s approach: Elizabeth Capanz, director of knowledge management at DLA Piper, described the firm’s Athena intranet (built on SharePoint) and said the platform organizes precedent collections, templates and practice-specific resources for pro bono teams. Capanz said the firm couples Athena with targeted trainings, consultations and short microlearning videos — “UPOs” under six minutes — to raise adoption.

Microsoft tools and practices: Erin, from Microsoft’s productivity solutions team supporting CELA (Corporate, External and Legal Affairs), walked through concrete steps agencies can take: use Microsoft Forms or SharePoint lists for structured intake, apply metadata columns to document libraries for cross-site searches, and use Teams transcription for brainstorming sessions that are not privileged. Erin said SharePoint lists support choice fields, person columns and version history, while SharePoint’s share/copy-link dialogs let owners restrict access (edit vs. read, download permissions, and link expiration).

Security and client-data concerns: presenters acknowledged unease about AI and transcription. Erin said Teams transcription is only available to meeting invitees unless the owner explicitly shares it. Elizabeth Capanz described DLA Piper’s internal infosec and privacy review process for new GenAI tools, requiring training, ethics CLE credits and a responsible-use policy before granting access to newer assistants piloted in 2023.

Practical examples: Vivian said Legal Aid Chicago has already begun piloting SharePoint lists and has a technology trainer dedicating roughly 50% of their time to staff training. Panelists described using firm tools to assemble timelines from medical records and to compile model forms for immigration or prisoners’ rights matters, saving litigation teams significant time.

Technical constraints and automation: the audience raised issues about partner firewalls blocking SharePoint access; Microsoft recommended those partners’ IT teams adjust firewall permissions and noted that in some cases, the hosting organization must request permission on the partner’s behalf. For lightweight automation, presenters recommended Power Automate as a close complement to SharePoint lists; presenters also noted that some out-of-the-box alerts and notification features may provide basic automation without separate licensing.

Next steps: panelists said they will share session videos and resource links after the presentation, offered to follow up on questions in the event app, and volunteered to provide on-site or remote training where feasible. The session closed with time for additional audience Q&A and an offer to continue conversations after the program.