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“Each ‘successful’ search will save an associate an average of two hours of research.”

David Shargel, Attorney, Bracewell & Giuliani

Creating a Valuable Legal Knowledgebase

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP is a prestigious law firm with busy and successful practices across many industries and approximately 450 attorneys in ten offices around the world. Every minute counts for Bracewell’s associates.

David Shargel, an associate at Bracewell & Giuliani, wanted to create a “knowledge database” in which legal research is stored. Associates researching legal topics can easily access past research done by other associates at the firm and can use the shared research as a jumping-off point for new assignments. This way, previous knowledge and experience is preserved and continuously provides value, saving the attorneys valuable time for both themselves and their clients.

“I would estimate that each such ‘successful’ search will save the associate an average of 2 hours of research,” said Shargel. “That doesn't sound like a lot, but when there are a lot of users, it adds up.”

An Inexpensive and Easy-to-use Solution

David turned to PBworks to host his “knowledge database.” Both the low cost and the easy usability of PBworks were factors in his decision. “We created a few test wikis on other platforms,” David says. “PBworks was much easier to use, and looked better.”

So far, PBworks is shared in Bracewell & Giuliani’s New York litigation department, but interest is high from other people in that office as well as from other offices. “Other attorneys in the other offices are excited and want to jump into the wiki idea, but we didn't want to roll it out too fast," he said. "We wanted to solidify its purpose before bringing more people in.”