The next generation

Knowledge management in law firms is experiencing something of a revival, according to the testaments of attendees at Ark Group's recent 'KM in the Legal Profession' conference. And the technology that is now available is an increasingly sophisticated enabler. By Melanie Farquharson

I spent a fascinating two days chairing this year’s Ark Group ‘Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession’ conference, which was subtitled, ‘Preparing for the next generation of KM’. There does seem to be something of a revival going on, with firms taking knowledge management (KM) increasingly seriously and knowledge managers in law firms facing growing expectations and challenges.

There are a number of drivers behind this revival. Inevitably one of the strongest is technology. While law firms have for a long time relied on databases and search engines as part of the KM toolbox, the technologies that are now available can assist knowledge managers in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Search
Search tools can now retrieve information in a more user-friendly way, not only by matching the precise words searched, but also by identifying related concepts and people. When these features were first available lawyers were understandably sceptical as to whether software could analyse information with the degree of sophistication they require. That scepticism is now diminishing as the software gets better and the scope for it to generate real efficiencies in law firms increases dramatically. What’s more, no longer does the lawyer need to know their way around a large number of sources and applications. Pockets of information that have previously been a black hole somewhere in the firm can now be opened up – and joined up in a coherent way. Furthermore, time-consuming processes, such as the maintenance of expertise databases, can be made more efficient – not necessarily to exclude human intervention, but to give that intervention a head start.

Document automation
While firms still discuss the creeping commoditisation of legal work over time, few have adopted document automation wholeheartedly as a way of meeting this challenge. The conference touched on some of the reasons behind this, starting with the old paradox that efficiency is not the obvious answer in an environment where the billable hour still prevails. Other challenges were also discussed.

Picking the right place to start with document automation is an art in itself and being clear about the output that is expected of the process is also important. Trying to generate a near-final document that caters for every eventuality is going to be a mammoth task. Generating the good first draft that gets the lawyer over some of the more tedious aspects of creating a document is a more realistic aim, but expectations have to be carefully managed. Where the discussion touched on the use of clause libraries – rather than repeating standard clauses in scores of documents and thereby creating a significant maintenance overhead – it was interesting that the participants concluded that it was the human input required to get agreement on standard drafting that made this a challenge, rather than the technology. However sophisticated the software, KM still comes down to dealing with people in the end.

Social software
Relatively few firms seem yet to be using RSS feeds, wikis or blogs to any degree. However, those that were doing so were enthusiastic about the way social software was contributing to knowledge sharing. The interesting point for me is that as lawyers, we often start from the premise that we need to find a definitive (or at least authoritative) answer to a question. What wikis and blogs seem to be doing is encouraging contributions to a debate, even when the contribution is not necessarily the last word on the subject. By careful planning on the part of the organisers, the discussion on these technologies (which was one of the most popular sessions at the conference) followed a session on innovation in law firms, where we were told that to encourage innovation it was necessary to support risk taking and even celebrate failure. Getting it wrong in a law firm has not traditionally been career enhancing. Perhaps, though, tools that facilitate the contribution of ideas on a subject, without requiring those contributions to be definitive, will be the things that generate truly innovative approaches in law firms. And if KM can bring about innovation in this way, that would be a marvellous way for this new generation to make its mark. ?

Melanie Farquharson has recently joined 3Kites Consulting Limited, having previously been a partner and director of professional support at Simmons & Simmons. She can be contacted at melanie.farquharson@3kites.com