Editor's letter: A valuable asset

Welcome to the April/May issue of KIM Legal magazine.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my congratulations to editorial board member Juliet Humphries and wish her all the very best of luck within her role at Bird & Bird, where she has recently joined as head of Knowledge and Learning.
It is perhaps appropriate, as she enters this new role, that she has written the thought leader, ‘Crunch time’, this issue. She stresses that when it comes to arguing the business case for KM during difficult economic times, the message and service delivery must be sharpened. Knowledge resources, for example, cannot be duplicated in times when costs are being scrutinised and, similarly, KM can no longer perform services that are seen as a ‘nice to have’.
Victoria Jannetta, head of information services at Field Fisher Waterhouse, also discusses the importance of demonstrating the value that information and library services can bring to the firm’s business. In her case-study article on page 15, she provides examples of how the library and information services team has been actively promoting its services throughout the firm, including relocating its staff to the practice groups that they serve, rather than having them hidden away, forgotten, in the basement.
In keeping with this proactive attitude, Tom Young, provides some guidance on ‘knowledge harvesting’ in the cover feature on page 10. The practice of capturing and retaining key knowledge is difficult in any industry sector, but perhaps more so in the legal services environment. Young recommends that time is spent carefully planning exactly which knowledge you need, and from whom you need to ‘extract’ it, before jumping into the harvesting process.
Elsewhere, David Fitch chats to Stephanie Ramasamy about his highly successful 2008, a year which saw him win a prestigious industry award, as well as implementing some interesting new projects at his firm, Simmons & Simmons, in the profile on page 6.
I hope that you enjoy the magazine. As always, all comments are welcomed – drop me an e-mail at: kclifton@ark-group.com

Kate Clifton,
Head of editorial

Features

Case study: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer This article is for subscribers only
Transforming the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer intranet into an essential business tool. By Stephen Perry

Technology focus: Leveraging systems This article is for subscribers only
Many law firms will look to adopt SharePoint at some stage. More than anything, the value of SharePoint lies in the ways in which it helps lawyers and support staff to perform their jobs. It is unfortunate, then, when firms fail to leverage the platform effectively, leaving value on the table when it comes to implementation.

Feature: Marketing library and information services to maximise usage This article is for subscribers only
Victoria Jannetta discusses how the library and information services department at Field Fisher Waterhouse is promoting its valuable work.

Cover feature: Knowledge harvesting This article is for subscribers only
Tom Young explores the process of knowledge harvesting (or knowledge retention) in the law firm environment.

Advertorial: Justis Publishing Free
Alistair King showcases Justis Publishing's new suite of editorial and indexing tools.

Regulars

Opinion: An anthropologist's approach to knowledge management Free
Jamie Hatch discusses how knowledge managers can best communicate their message to individuals at all levels of their organisation's culture.

Opinion: It's the economy, stupid! Free
Jeremy Thomas takes a look back at developments in KM since 1992 and makes suggestions as to what firms need to do to survive 2009 and beyond.

The profile: David Fitch Free
Stephanie Ramasamy chats to David Fitch about industry recognition, career drivers and what it takes to succeed at knowledge management in the legal profession.

Thought leader: Crunch time Free
The economic gloom seems to deepen with each passing day and increasing stories of redundancies and budget cuts are enough to darken any knowledge management (KM) professional’s heart. However, perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the past ten years of KM and what we have been trying to achieve and consider whether this meets the needs of the current economic climate?