Editor's letter

To get straight to the point, many of you may have noticed something slightly different about the magazine this issue. Or, you might have heard some murmurings on the grapevine, of a new Ark Group publication. To set the record straight: yes, KM Legal has evolved, but the only major changes are in its name – and in the increased scope of the issues and functions that the magazine covers.

Back when we launched in 2006, the magazine’s remit was very much what you could refer to as ‘pure’ knowledge management, but as the publication has grown, so too has its audience and, increasingly, the topics that fall under its umbrella.

Know-how now extends beyond the KM team and into other areas of the firm, such as library services – which many firms are now rebranding as ‘information services’ – information technology, and information management. All of these are areas we have been exploring since day one, but we felt that it was time to recognise the impact that such activities have on KM as a whole, as the lines between each function continue to blur.

For that reason KM Legal is now ‘Knowledge and Information Management Legal’ – KIM Legal. While the essence of the magazine remains unchanged, we’re confident that the additional subject areas included will give you more ‘bang’, along with increased coverage and content diversity, for your buck. With that in mind I would like to welcome on board any new readers, and thank existing subscribers for their continued support of the magazine.

Over the next few months I will be contacting subscribers personally to chat about article ideas and feedback on the magazine. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this issue, and please do feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Kate Clifton
Head of Editorial

Features

Case study: Library services This article is for subscribers only
When James Mullan, information officer at CMS Cameron McKenna started his blog, ‘The Running Librarian’, it was chiefly to support the British & Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) from his position as chair of one of its committees. The project quickly morphed into his own project, which he continues to run, alongside another blog, which he later set up specifically for BIALL. As an ongoing effort, ‘The Running Librarian’ perhaps best demonstrates some of the changes going on in the library/information profession.

Case study: Dorsey & Whitney LLP This article is for subscribers only
The past 30 years for information professionals have been a time of continuous change, challenge and creativity. During this time we have also experienced three separate cultural or industry shifts that have dramatically impacted the evolution of our profession. These shifts are: explosive technology, the rebirth of knowledge and the commercialisation of information as a business.

Masterclass: Content management strategy and implementation This article is for subscribers only
Following implementation of a knowledge management (KM) system, law firms often face a paradoxical situation in that as part of their KM infrastructure, most have created huge, unmanageable document repositories in the form of know-how portals, databases and intranet applications, to name a few examples. These repositories typically contain legal know-how, such as standard forms, precedents and memoranda, as well as business information on clients, sector groups and industries. Depending on the size and age of the individual know-how system, such a knowledge bank can easily consist of a couple of thousand (if not 200,000) items.

Mature know-how tool or software fad? This article is for subscribers only
Many legal departments and law firms find their way to Allen & Overy (A&O) to ask about our experience of using Web 2.0. Based on our successful experience of using tools such as blogs and wikis over the past few years, I rarely send them away saying ‘don’t do it’. However, at the same time I do try to convey that Web 2.0 is not a panacea: the formula Web 2.0 = KM is no truer than DM = KM or search = KM, or any of the other legal knowledge management (KM) technology propositions of the past. So, it’s great to have this opportunity to put the case ‘for’ Web 2.0, in the knowledge that a contemporary will be able to add some appropriate words of legal caution in response, in a future issue of the magazine.

Knowledge goes west Free
Based in Bristol, the recently launched Knowledge Network West is an online forum and networking group for knowledge professionals. Helene Russell, it's founder, speaks to KIM Legal about the origins of the group and its planned development moving forward.

Leading the edge This article is for subscribers only
If law firms are to be effective in building a competitive advantage through knowledge management (KM) they need to invest in both their infrastructure capabilities and the influencing skills of their knowledge leaders and advocates.

Regulars

Cover feature This article is for subscribers only
As a communication tool and as organisational and personal productivity enhancers, intranets are uniquely measureable. This opportunity must not be wasted, but efforts to properly measure the value an intranet offers often fall short. Measurement is frequently not well understood and the approaches to measuring intranets are too narrow in scope.

Thought leader Free
Is knowledge management dead? That was the question posed in a recorded interview of Larry Prusak and Dave Snowden by Patrick Lambe, which I recently encountered on the ‘Straits Knowledge’ website. Funnily enough, I had already agreed to make that the title of this commentary so, in a modest way, it was gratifying to see that my thinking coincides with that of such eminent gurus.