iManage and noslegal: Speaking the same language with open-source legal data standards

Legal firms often discuss similar topics, but their shared understanding of concepts varies. Even slight differences in metadata taxonomies can complicate knowledge organization and management. Noslegal, an open-source initiative supported by iManage, helps firms use a shared vocabulary and incorporate it within our services.

For all the many unique factors that define the diverse firms that make up the legal community, at their core, many of them ultimately carry out their daily work by referring to the same principal forms of knowledge. Inevitably, these firms—regardless of size, specialty, or geography—classify, curate, store, and access this knowledge, growing and organizing a library that must support the quick identification and retrieval of pertinent information.

Clearly, firms across the spectrum benefit from having well-stocked and well-managed knowledge banks, as these repositories are essential for effective collaboration and operational efficiency.

Shared foundations, diverse meanings

Legal professionals need a consistent system for classifying, curating, and accessing information to manage knowledge effectively. Yet even similar knowledge often has varying terms and tags across or within firms, leading to confusion, hindering collaboration, and making information harder to locate and use efficiently.

While firms may store similar knowledge, their metadata terms often vary—even within the same organization. More critically, inconsistent definitions of concepts lead to ambiguity across regions, functions, and between clients and law firms. This makes bridging gaps between departments or functions, like knowledge, finance, business development, and pricing, particularly challenging.

This is further felt in situations in which clients and firms interact with one another every day. Capturing the full depth and nuance of a concept in a single label can lead to ambiguity and misunderstanding—a conundrum I liken to condensing an ocean into a teacup.

The perils of multiple taxonomies without a central glossary

Using different taxonomies can make it hard to find information quickly, undermining the benefits of knowledge management systems. When labeling discrepancies exist within a firm, collaboration can suffer, introducing barriers that can greatly slow the exchange of information. For example, inconsistent labels can cause delays in cross-functional projects.

Tagging can also help a firm adhere to its legal and regulatory compliance obligations, such as retention schedules for specific document types. Yet again, non-standard vocabulary and unclear definitions can impede efforts to find necessary information, exposing a firm to costly financial penalties and reputational hits.

A firm's knowledge base not only supports client work but also underpins its technological systems. Tools like search, analytics, and AI services require precise, well-structured metadata to function effectively.

Enter noslegal

Noslegal, supported by iManage, is an open-source project that offers standardized taxonomies and guides for the legal sector. It helps firms and professionals use a common vocabulary and define knowledge assets more clearly.

Inconsistent tagging creates risks for all sectors, but law firms are particularly exposed. To address this, noslegal partnered with legal professionals to develop an open-source schema for knowledge search and management that uses shared vocabulary and clear definitions.

Beginning as an informal group in August 2020, noslegal formalized its work once it became clear that there was sufficient industry demand for a shared vocabulary.

Perfecting the wheel

By design, noslegal’s efforts are collaborative, aiming to capture best practices in structuring and enriching knowledge assets. Its design committee is formed from industry experts, including iManage, helping to ensure that its taxonomies reflect best practices and meet the evolving needs of legal organizations.

Noslegal aims to develop a schema that benefits anyone dealing with legal topics, regardless of their experience with knowledge management. By leveraging collective expertise, the initiative avoids starting from scratch or lengthy debates over taxonomy details.

In addition to providing the taxonomies, noslegal also publishes guides that explain what their concepts mean, with careful definitions and examples to help distinguish between them. This does wonders for keeping all stakeholders on the same page when discussing labels and helps clarify distinctions that might otherwise be ambiguous.

These efforts have gained traction internationally, resulting in strong adoption in the UK and Europe, as well as early interest from organizations in the US and Canada.

Seamless iManage integration

We are committed to helping customers align with emerging standards, such as those offered by noslegal, and unlocking the benefits of a shared information architecture across the industry.

In support of that commitment, we make it easy for Insight+ users to utilize the easily accessible taxonomies provided by noslegal and upload them directly into the Control Center of the iManage platform for use within knowledge libraries. (Note: Taxonomy fields are currently only available in knowledge libraries, not client matters.)

The simple process can be reviewed in the video below.

Building a strong foundation for AI

Adopting a shared, open-source knowledge schema like noslegal enables legal organizations to standardize data tagging and organization, ensuring a consistent information structure necessary for effective AI deployment.

Consistent taxonomies reduce ambiguity and enhance data interoperability, enabling AI models to utilize reliable datasets more efficiently. This enables quicker AI adoption, better automated recommendations, greater value of knowledge assets, and lower risks associated with poor data classification.

To discover other ways that iManage is preparing the legal industry to navigate the AI-influenced road ahead, visit our AI Confidence™ resources.