Restrict SharePoint folder on individual level?

[Michael_Paolantonio]

Hi all,

I have a lawyer client where individual lawyers frequently need to recuse themselves from cases. Imagine a SharePoint Document library like: Root > Cases > Case 1, Case 2, Case 3, etc.

If one of the lawyers needs to recuse themselves from Case 2, for example, we would like to be able to just block that user from being able to access Case 2. But they'd need access to everything else, just not that case. What would best practice be for implementing that?

My current, unwieldy solution is to create Permissions Groups that include "everyone but." So:

• Everyone but Lawyer 1
• Everyone but Lawyer 2
• Everyone but Lawyer 3, etc.

But there are 50+ lawyers, and there's certainly some turnover. Under this system, I'd need to add each new hire to 50+ groups to make that work. 

Is there no way to just block an internal user from accessing a SharePoint folder?

Thanks,

Michael

[#2]

@Michael_Paolantonio Regardless of the solution you choose to build this functionality, it will involve a lot of rights administration. Setting individual rights on SharePoint folders or (in the worst case) on individual elements quickly becomes a nightmare if you want a good overview of who has access to what. Without knowing enough about the concrete needs of your client, I personally would rather base the solution on Microsoft Teams and perhaps consider each Case as its own Team and therefore establish a Team per Case. When a Case is closed, you can also easily archive it. Yes, there will be many Teams, but with a few small fixed routines, it will be much easier to have an overview of and administer the members than trying to do the same job in a SharePoint site with unique rights at different levels.

If your client is not yet using Microsoft Teams, this might be a good opportunity to show them how this can help them. If, as expected, it should prove impossible to get them over on Teams, it is better to have a SharePoint Modern Team Site per Case in order to have a better overview of members/rights even then. Then you are also better prepared to be able to create Teams for the sites in the future.

Regards, Magnus