How to build a note-taking system as a junior lawyer (using Microsoft OneNote)

As a junior lawyer, you need a digital note-taking system that's simple but comprehensive enough for the work. Here's the system I wish I'd had from day one, built in Microsoft OneNote.

1. What I wanted my system to do

• One searchable place for everything — meetings, calls, instructions, feedback, BD and my own thinking, all searchable.
• Easy to file to the firm's document management system.
• Easy to tag / categorise without a maze of folders.
• Quick to use in any setting — a meeting, a call, or while working.
• No privacy / confidentiality / IT issues — I didn't want an approval process or confidentiality worries.

2. Why it's worth building

You always look prepared (pulling up a note from weeks ago leaves a strong impression); it's a second brain so you stop carrying things in your head; it's a record that protects you (a clear note of what was discussed and agreed once saved me a messy conversation months later); and it cuts the admin gap between personal notes and the firm's system.

3. What it looks like in OneNote

OneNote is built around three levels — Notebooks, Sections and Pages.

• Notebooks — I keep a single Notebook for all work notes (a very large, 1-year-plus matter can get its own).
• Sections (tabs) — Active Notes, Career Development, Training and Know-How, Personal, Archive, and optionally [Project A / B] for large matters. New notes go into Active Notes by default and move to Archive when the matter ends, keeping Active Notes clean.
• Pages — one note per interaction, named YYYY-MM-DD — [Matter/Client] — [Brief description] so they sort chronologically and search well.

Each Section uses a template so every note follows the same structure — the Active Notes template covers Attendees, Time, Summary of Actions (owner + due date), Meeting Notes, Extracts / Diagrams, and Tags; other Sections have tailored templates (a Workflow Meeting template, a Training and Know-How template, and a Career Development template with a Goal / Action / Done? table).

4. How to set it up (about 15 minutes)

Create a Notebook ("Work Notes"), then create your Sections (Active Notes, Career Development, Training and Know-How, Personal, Archive, and optional Projects). Then set up a template for each Section:

Commit to your naming convention, then take your first note (new Page from the template, name it, take the note, and file it to the firm's system before you close your laptop). Two habits keep it clean: file promptly, and move completed notes to Archive at the end of each week or when a matter closes. Already using OneNote? Add these Sections, move existing Pages in (use Archive generously), rename the most recent Pages to the convention, and set up templates going forward.

5. OneNote features worth knowing

Also worth knowing: hashtags (e.g. #projectsolar) work as a simple tagging and search system, and OneNote's search reads text inside images — a photo of a whiteboard or a printed page becomes searchable.

6. Other resources and tips

Microsoft's OneNote template library is a good starting point if you'd rather adapt than build from scratch. For issues, use the Microsoft OneNote user guides, the Microsoft Tech Community forum, and your firm's IT helpdesk for firm-specific things (syncing, cloud storage restrictions, Copilot access). Microsoft is also rolling out Copilot in OneNote — depending on what your firm enables, it can summarise notes, generate action-item lists and draft content; check with IT whether it's available to you.