Published Research
Document, contract, records, and knowledge management are four different systems.
This is the question we are asked more than any other, and getting it wrong is expensive: departments buy one system expecting it to do the job of another, then discover the gap after migration. Danish Butt wrote the reference on it for the Association of Corporate Counsel, setting out where each system starts, where they overlap, and how to decide which one owns which record. If the boundaries are still unclear at your organization, that is exactly the conversation we start with.
Microsoft Depth
Legal document management is a Microsoft problem too. We staff it that way.
Documents live in Outlook, Word, Teams and SharePoint, retention runs through Purview, and Copilot wants access to all of it. Two of the people who lead this work bring nearly 40 years at Microsoft between them, so the NetDocuments, SharePoint, Purview and Copilot decisions come from people who worked on the platform.
Chief Information Officer
30+ years in technology leadership, including 23 years at Microsoft. Azure expert directing technology strategy and AI infrastructure.
PMO Director & DMS Lead
30+ years in IT, including 15+ years at Microsoft, then Director at Kroll. Leads program delivery and implementation governance.
How an Engagement Runs
Four steps, from shared drive to governed DMS.
- 01
Assess and scope: what you have, where it lives, and the cleanup, deduplication and metadata design that make it searchable on arrival.
- 02
Design: workspaces built from your matters, contracts, entities and business units, with privilege and ethical walls in the security model from the start.
- 03
Migrate: staged and validated, off shared drives, legacy DMS platforms and email archives.
- 04
Adopt and integrate: Microsoft 365 and Copilot, your ELM and eBilling systems, and AI switched on only after content and permissions are trustworthy.
Our Services
Document management services for corporate legal.
Strategy · Workspace Design · Migration · Email · Workflow · Knowledge · Governance · Governed AI
From selection through migration, adoption, and ongoing administration.
01
DMS Strategy & Selection
Whether you need a legal DMS, how it fits your ELM and CLM, and which platform.
02
Workspace & Matter Design
Architecture around your matters, contracts, entities and business units.
03
Workflow, Intake & Approvals
Requests routed, approvals matched to your delegation of authority.
04
Knowledge Management
Finished work product turned into reusable precedent.
05
Implementation & Configuration
NetDocuments configured for corporate legal and integrated with your matter management system (Onit, Mitratech, LexisNexis, Legal Tracker, TyMetrix 360 or Passport), so workspaces open and close with the matter.
06
Migration
Off shared drives, OpenText eDocs, iManage and email archives, with cleanup included.
07
Email Management
Correspondence filed to the matter without heroics.
08
Adoption Rescue & Data Remediation
For a DMS nobody trusts.
09
Information Governance & Records
Retention, data residency and records on Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Purview.
10
Governed Legal AI
NdMAX Assist and PatternBuilder MAX on clean content and correct permissions.
11
Adoption & Change Management
The change program for the tool lawyers touch most.
12
Admin & Managed Services
Administration, enhancements, federated search and support after go-live.
Document Management Practice
Named practitioners. Migrations measured in terabytes.
Behind the named practitioners sits a bench of experienced document management SMEs and delivery experts, with certified depth across NetDocuments, ndMAX, and PatternBuilder, and hands-on experience with the migration tooling that makes multi-terabyte moves predictable.
PMO Director & DMS Lead
Bob is a leader in Swiftwater's document management practice. His career in the discipline runs through Kroll's document management group within information governance, and some of the most complicated cross-platform data migrations in the industry. He delivered one of the largest NetDocuments implementations on record, for an organization with local offices in all 50 US states, and has implemented DMS programs for corporate law departments, government agencies, and AmLaw firms, including a multi-terabyte on-prem to on-prem migration driven by data residency and ownership requirements, and a country-sovereignty carve-out of a separate instance and domain spanning Exchange, DMS, and billing systems, delivered to a cutover deadline with no disruption to business as usual.
NetDocuments • iManage • SharePoint • Data Migration • Information Governance
CEO & Co-Founder · Information Governance Leader
Hassan leads Swiftwater's information governance practice, with 30+ years guiding global clients on technology and transformation, including at Kroll. He delivered a DMS to a large global oil and gas company integrated with the matter and eBilling systems, producing a full document and matter lifecycle management system rather than a standalone repository.
Information Governance • DMS + ELM Integration • Records Management
Managing Director
Danish was one of the first to bring matter-centric document management to corporate law departments, runs Swiftwater's NetDocuments partnership, has deep experience implementing iManage, and has specialized in DMS selection and implementation across insurance, pharmaceutical, high tech, manufacturing, utilities, and oil and gas, including highly regulated environments. Selected engagements: NetDocuments across a PE-backed utility aggregation and grid company governed by FERC, NERC, and multiple agencies; a top pharmaceutical company's DMS launched across 5 global jurisdictions with local repositories and infrastructure designed for global document traffic; a global insurance DMS across 400+ users, rescued from failed adoption through data remediation, corporate-legal folder redesign, and federated search into internal and third-party systems including Thomson Reuters; a legacy OpenText eDocs/Hummingbird migration covering 5 TB of shared drives and 1 TB of DMS data; and records management across 3,000 professionals at a professional services organization on Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Purview.
NetDocuments • iManage • SharePoint • Box • Matter-Centric Design • Knowledge Management
Frequently asked questions
Do you support iManage as well as NetDocuments?
Yes. Our practitioners bring iManage, SharePoint, NetDocuments and other legal DMS experience, and our professionals have run iManage partnerships and hold ICSE certifications. We are a NetDocuments partner, and when a move from iManage to NetDocuments is the right call, we plan and run the migration with people who know both platforms.
What are the best document management platforms for an enterprise legal department?
The usual shortlist is NetDocuments, iManage and a Microsoft 365 or SharePoint-based design. The right answer depends on volumes, privilege and ethical-wall needs, email, and how the DMS has to connect to your ELM and CLM. We are a NetDocuments partner and still assess fit honestly, including when SharePoint is enough.
Which DMS integrates best with Microsoft 365?
NetDocuments and iManage both integrate natively with Outlook, Word and Teams, and SharePoint is Microsoft 365. What matters more is how the integration is configured: email filing, permissions that Copilot respects, and Purview retention. Two of our leaders bring nearly 40 years at Microsoft to that design.
Can NetDocuments meet private cloud or data residency requirements?
Data residency and ownership are settled in the design, before any content moves. Where requirements go beyond a standard cloud deployment, our practitioners have delivered a multi-terabyte on-prem to on-prem migration driven by data residency and ownership requirements, and a country-sovereignty carve-out of a separate instance spanning Exchange, DMS and billing systems, delivered to a cutover deadline.
How long does a NetDocuments rollout take?
A focused departmental rollout typically runs 2 to 4 months including workspace design and training. Add migration from legacy systems or large shared-drive estates and the timeline is driven by data volume and quality, which we assess up front rather than discovering mid-project.
How do you handle a multi-terabyte migration from OpenText, iManage or shared drives?
Scope first: cleanup, deduplication and metadata design, so you arrive searchable. Then staged, validated moves using proven third-party migration tooling. One of our programs migrated a legacy OpenText eDocs/Hummingbird environment covering 5 TB of shared drives and 1 TB of DMS data.
Does a corporate legal department need a DMS if it has a CLM?
Often, yes. A CLM manages contract records and their lifecycle. The department's remaining work product, including advice, disputes, regulatory matters, board materials, and correspondence, needs its own governed home. The design question is boundaries: which system owns which record, and how they connect. We settle that before implementing either.
Can we just use SharePoint for legal document management?
Some departments can, and we will say so when it is true. SharePoint works when volumes are modest and governance is simple. Departments with privilege and ethical-wall requirements, high matter volumes, heavy email, or audit exposure usually outgrow it, which is typically when we are called in, mid-mess. If that is where you are, the migration path is well worn.
Can legal use AI on its documents safely?
NetDocuments ships governed AI natively: ndMAX Assist for working with documents, PatternBuilder MAX for drafting and workflow automation, and a Microsoft Copilot integration that respects your permissions and ethical walls. Our advice is sequencing: clean content and a correct security model first, then AI. Enabled in that order it works. Enabled in the other order it embarrasses someone.
Give your documents a system.
Book a Discovery CallDocument management pages
This page covers our full document management practice: readiness, design, implementation, migration, governance and adoption. We are system agnostic and work across NetDocuments, iManage, SharePoint and Microsoft 365, Purview, OpenText eDocs, Box, and legacy systems, for law firms and legal departments alike.
The pages below go deeper on the platforms buyers ask us about most. They are a starting point, and every system above is covered by the same team.