Anti-social

I have lost track of how many times this foreword has focused on the application of social media tools for the benefit of law firm knowledge management.

To begin with, there was the seemingly never ending argument about whether or not KM professionals should be including social media tools within their strategy at all. Was it worth the risk? This debate trundled along for months – in fact, it’s one of the few times when readers were getting in touch with me and begging to write their views on the subject. This can put an editor in a very difficult position. While it’s wonderful that people feel so passionately (and in the case of a magazine such as this, you must let the market dictate the content to some extent) it’s also poor form to publish on the same topic over and again.

So, whether or not law firms should jump on the social bandwagon is now a moot point. As Brian Inkster demonstrated with his account of Twitter use at his firm back in April, it’s just the done thing. Social networking and its associated websites are such a huge part of our lives that they are almost omnipresent. And, not just in law firms, there are established business benefits to support their use.

We all know the trailblazers; those firms that have been on the case with social media for years now. The majority of them entered the world of blogs, discussion forums and social networking with an already substantial KM function under their belts. For these firms, social networking was a small way of optimising an already effective know-how strategy, with ingrained systems and processes.

That’s why I have enjoyed speaking to Andrew Woolfson, of Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC), so much this month. When he was installed as the director of a newly created knowledge and capability department in 2010, the firm’s KM strategy was encompassed by a single intranet site and limited PSL support.

In the next few months, Woolfson (in collaboration with social business consultancy Headshift) developed a social media platform that sat on top of the firm’s core business systems. Underpinning that programme was an objective to deliver innovative ways of working, which would in turn demonstrate RPC’s commitment to being a modern provider of legal services.

Part of this commitment, was a focus on the firm’s core strength – its people. For that reason, Woolfson and his team didn’t impose formal training at launch. Instead they provided guidance and stories to encourage people to adopt the tools themselves. And it has worked. You can read about the firm’s social media journey on page 24.

Moving on, quite literally, after seven years with Ark Group (and now Wilmington), this will be my last issue as editor of KIM Legal, as I will be leaving to explore some new challenges. It’s been a pleasure working with all of you who have contributed to the magazine since its launch and I hope that your good work continues. With a bit of luck, I’ll be seeing many of you and Twitter and LinkedIn.

Kate Clifton
Managing editor