Self-help content governance checklist
Keep public legal information accurate, safe, and provably current, so users are not harmed by outdated guidance and your team stops scrambling when something changes.
What it is
A practical governance system for self-help legal content, built around clear ownership, risk-based review cadence, versioning rules, and a lightweight publish workflow that holds up under real-world pressure. It includes simple metrics and a 30-day rollout plan you can run with a small team.
Who it is for
Legal aid and justice organizations that publish self-help resources, including web pages, PDFs, intake FAQs, guided interviews, and chatbot answers, and need a dependable way to keep them current. It’s for leaders dealing with law or policy changes, partner updates, traffic spikes, or staff turnover where content risk quietly grows.
An owner map with real decision rights, including legal review, privacy and security, accessibility, publishing, analytics, and escalation roles.
A risk-based review cadence plus single-source-of-truth and versioning rules that prevent conflicting copies and “final_v7” PDFs.
A run-ready workflow, metrics, and 30-day rollout plan, including three board-friendly numbers, risks, and actions you can report monthly.
What you will walk away with
FAQs
What counts as “self-help content”?
Anything public that someone uses without a lawyer in the room, including web pages, PDFs, guided interviews, chatbot answers, intake FAQs, kiosks, and clinic handouts.
Why does this content fail so often?
Because it behaves like a living system. Rules change, copies spread across sites and PDFs, links break, and nobody is sure who can approve a change.
When do we need a governance checklist now, not later?
When law or policy changes, funders want proof of currency, partner or court processes change, traffic spikes, you launch a chatbot or guided interview, you have a near miss, or staff turnover wipes out tribal knowledge.
What are the minimum outcomes a governance system must deliver?
One accountable owner per asset, visible review dates, one source of truth per topic, defined approvals for high-risk content, and simple ways to measure freshness and accuracy.
How often should we review content?
Review high-risk content monthly or quarterly, medium-risk every six months, and low-risk yearly. Also trigger event-based reviews when laws, court procedures, or partner workflows change.
What are the simplest metrics that make this real?
Track percent reviewed on time by risk tier, open issues count, and time to publish urgent updates from request to live. Those three numbers are enough for a calm monthly board and funder update.
Gain access to the self-help content governance checklist
We will email you the Self-Help Content Governance Checklist and other useful follow-up resources. Unsubscribe anytime.
Turn output from the checklist into clear next steps
In 30 minutes, we will review your top 3 bottlenecks and top 3 trust risks. You will leave with a prioritized next step that fits your mission and capacity.
30 minutes. Clear priorities and a next step you can act on.