A day in the life of... A knowledge manager in Italy

When Simona Cerca joined the Italian office of Clifford Chance LLP, its knowledge management function was still very much a work in progress. Here, she discusses the main aspects of her role during her first year as a knowledge manager.

Amost one year has passed since I joined Clifford Chance as knowledge manager in Italy. Speaking with the KM sponsoring partner for Italy in the beginning, I soon understood that although some processes were already in place there was still much to accomplish with KM in this region. However, partners were really committed to pushing things forward and showed a very collaborative attitude towards it.

Where did I begin? Well, I decided to use my previous experience as a consultant and start by formulating a KM strategy focusing on people first, then processes and technology.

People
I had been assigned a team of two experienced librarians with whom I worked closely to help them understand the concept of KM and to encourage them to share in my enthusiasm for their new job. I set objectives and, step by step, they have embraced their new roles as information officers, which are much wider than being responsible solely for the libraries in Rome and Milan. Their other duties are handling enquiries, providing updates on relevant topics, maintaining information resources, developing and maintaining knowledge and information intranet pages, and delivering training on information resources. My key objective as regards people is to create a group of motivated individuals proud of belonging to the KM department and of developing the skills relevant to their job.

Processes
I believe that it is very easy to confuse KM with technology. However, talking about processes in a law firm is not always easy – but any paradigm takes time to be successful. With this in mind, my team and I have recently started to promote new procedures for the use of the library, to regulate the acquisition and lending of new hard copies and online copies. We are also working on collecting, identifying, creating and managing the most important and valuable asset in the firm: its knowledge base. We are working to make this available to the whole firm. Furthermore, we are currently working on collecting each product group’s seminar agenda and communicating them across the entire firm. This initiative is enjoying good results, since lawyers love to feel part of the team. In this area we have also started working on education and training. It is important for new joiners, but also lawyers who have been here for some time, to know where they can find the information they need, the information sources available in the firm, which people and groups can support them and in what ways they can contribute to the firm’s growth. The objective is to provide lawyers with the most effective processes to ensure that the highest quality information is delivered to the client on time and at a manageable cost.

Technology
Technology is an important enabler of KM. I am working closely with our IT department to select the best technology solution for the new processes.

Last, but not least, I work very closely with our global KM group. It is fundamental for me to take part in monthly international conference calls, meetings and events. My colleagues in other offices are extremely helpful and, thanks to them, I have been able to take further important steps. For example, they have helped the team to develop the global knowledge repository and recently, we launched a knowledge and information help desk using a tool developed in the Amsterdam office.

Many other projects are in the pipeline, which will also require a lot of hard work. But I think that with the team’s commitment, enthusiasm and skills, combined with the strong relationships that we are establishing across the firm – and the level of management support that we are receiving – myself and the team will be successful in tackling these exciting new challenges.

Simona Cerca is knowledge manager, Italy at international firm Clifford Chance LLP. She can be contacted at simona.cerca@cliffordchance.com