Tips for law practices

On this page

• Collaborate on documents with your team
• Maintain consistency with legal templates
• Review documents on the go
• Work offline without internet access
• Address common legal issues with presentations and Q&A sessions
• Send & control access to large email attachments
• Track your team's projects & schedules
• Manage your team's digital assets in one place
• Edit Microsoft Office files in Drive
• Use generative AI at work

               

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Collaborate on documents with your team

If you’re writing for clients or the court, you want an easy way for your team to collaborate. Use Google Docs to edit documents as a team in real time, chat directly in files, and get targeted feedback. You can also control access to shared documents to help maintain privilege or ensure screened-off firm members only have access to the files they need.

Learn how

Share a file with specific people

Important: If you use a Google Account through work or school, you might not be able to share files outside of your organization.

1. On your computer, go to Google Drive.
2. Select the file you want to share Share .
3. Enter the email address you want to share with. If you use a work or school account, you can share with suggested recipients.
   • Tip: To turn off suggested recipients, go to your Drive Settings . Uncheck "Show suggested recipients in the sharing dialog."
4. Decide how people can use your file. Select one:
   • Viewer
   • Commenter
   • Editor
5. If you use an eligible work or school account, click Add expiration to add an expiration date.
6. When you share your file, each email address gets an email.
   • Optional: Add a message to your notification email.
   • If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the box.
7. Click Send or Share.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

 

 

Maintain consistency with legal templates

Help your team produce fillable, sharable contracts and forms that meet your requirements. Use Google Docs to create or import templates for filings, communications, and other legal writing.

Learn how

Use a template

1. On your computer, go to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, or Sites homepage.
2. At the top right , click Template Gallery.
3. Click the template you want to use.
4. A new file with the template opens.

Tip: If the template you choose has "Add-on" next to it, you may have to install an add-on to use it. Learn more about add-ons.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

 

 

Review documents on the go

Whether you’re in court, at a deposition, or just working with a remote team, you can update or create documents on your phone or tablet using the Docs app. Any changes automatically update and sync to all your devices, so you’re always up to date, everywhere.

Learn how

Docs: Create and collaborate on documents in your browser

Example: 

Never lose track of talking points for your next meeting. Jot down notes on the way. Or, say your notes and reminders instead.

 Docs for Android 

 Docs for iOS

 Docs in your web browser (docs.google.com)

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

 

 

Work offline without internet access

If you’re traveling or experiencing an internet outage, you can still work on case materials or memos. Set up offline access in Google Drive so you can continue to work on files any time.

Learn how

Save Google Docs, Sheets, Slides for offline use

1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. Right click the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file you want to save offline.
3. Click Make available offline .

To save multiple files offline, press Shift or Command (Mac)/Ctrl (Windows) while you click other files.

Learn more at the Google Drive Help Center

 

 

Address common legal issues with presentations and Q&A sessions

Whether you’re working on a large case with multiple teams, marketing your firm, or running a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) class, presentations efficiently get everyone up to speed and address common issues. Outline your matters and proposals in Google Slides and present to your team. People can submit questions in real time and vote on them during the presentation. If you can’t get to everyone’s questions, just answer those with the most votes. Use Gemini in Meet to take notes for you so you can focus on your presentation. 

Learn how

Accept audience questions

1. Open a Google Slides presentation.
2. At the top, next to Slideshow , click the Down arrow .
3. Click Presenter View.
4. In the new window, click Audience tools.
   • To start a new session, click Start new.
   • To resume a recent session, click Continue recent.
   • To end Q&A, click the on/off switch in the Q&A window.
     • Tip: Even if you don't turn off Q&A, the Q&A view closes shortly after you end your Google Slide presentation.

Tip: If you use Google through your work, school, or other organizations, you can choose who can submit questions:

• In the "Presenter view" window, click Audience tools and change "Accepting questions from…"

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

Use "take notes for me"

You can use this feature only if your organization supports it. For help, contact your administrator.

1. On a computer, open meet.google.com.
2. Select a meeting.
3. At the top right of your screen, click Take notes with Gemini .
4. Click Start taking notes.
   • Meeting notes are added to a new doc and shared with people on the calendar invite that are within your organization.
   • Manually refresh “Summary so far.”
   • Stop and restart taking notes: All meeting participants internal to the organization can stop taking notes at any time. You can ensure that any confidential or sensitive discussions aren't part of the meeting summary.
   • When host controls are enabled for the meeting, only the host and co-hosts can start and stop taking notes.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Send & control access to large email attachments

If you need to share files larger than the Gmail attachment limit of 25 MB, you can upload and share them using Drive. You can also set access permissions for each Drive file, so you choose who can see your client files or discovery material. If you accidentally send something you shouldn’t, change the permissions on those documents or files to help minimize damage.

Learn how

Send a Google Drive attachment

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top left, click Compose.
3. At the bottom of the message, click Insert files using Drive .
4. Select the files you want to attach.
5. At the bottom of the page, decide how you want to send the file:
   • Drive link: This works for any files stored in Drive, including files created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
   • Attachment: This only works for files that weren't created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
6. Click Insert.

 

 

Track your team’s projects & schedules

Create a team calendar to track schedules, meetings, and court-imposed deadlines. With everyone’s availability in one calendar, it’s easy to plot the steps of a case and ensure your team meets important milestones.

Learn how

Set up a new calendar

You can only create new calendars from a browser and not from the Google Calendar app. Once the calendar is created, you can find it on your browser and in the app.

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. On the left, next to "Other calendars," click Add other calendars  Create new calendar.
3. Add a name and description for your calendar.
4. Click Create calendar.
5. If you want to share your calendar, click on it in the left bar, then select Share with specific people.

Learn more at the Google Calendar Help Center

 

 

Manage your team’s digital assets in one place

To store your team’s files in one location, create an internal website in Google Sites. Control access to the site through permissions settings. Then, add team calendars, case schedules, contracts, and other documents to your site. Now your team has a one-stop destination for important information, and they can access it any time, from any device.

Learn how

Create a site

1. Choose an option:

   • From the Sites homepage, at the top, click Blank, or to choose a template, click Template gallery and select a template.
   • From Google Drive, click New MoreGoogle Sites.
2. At the top left, enter a document name for your site and press Enter.

Learn more at the Google Sites Help Center

 

 

Edit Microsoft Office files in Drive

View, edit, and collaborate on Office files directly in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides while preserving the Office file format for clients or courts that require it.

Learn how

Learn how at the Google Workspace Learning Center

 

 

Use generative AI at work

If your organization supports it, you can use the artificial intelligence add-on, Gemini for Google Workspace. Use Gemini directly in Google Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Vids, and Gmail, to help you write, visualize, organize, and connect. You can also use Gemini as a standalone experience at gemini.google.com. 

Learn how

• Get started with Gemini
• Get tips for writing prompts

               

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