denotes premium content | Feb 8 2012 KIM Legal archive
Volume 3 Issue 6
What a difference a year (or three) makes
As KIM Legal moves into its fourth year of publication it feels appropriate to take a retrospective glance at the past three years. When the magazine launched in 2006, if anyone had told me that the global economy – which was enjoying a real boom period – would crash into recession in just a couple of years, frankly I would have thought them mad. Although with hindsight all the warning signs were there.
Similarly, I would not have foreseen the panic and paranoia – sanitising hand gel at the ready, folks – over the swine flu pandemic. While the virus seems to have peaked for the time being, people are not yet able to relax thanks to constant press coverage of the seemingly inevitable mutated strain, which it is reported will return in the autumn months. Grim news indeed. Hailing from a rural community ‘up north’, I now receive almost daily instructions of where not to go and what not to do (if I followed this advice I would be practically under house arrest).
Other landmark events? Barack Obama’s election as the first African-American US president is right up there, of course. On a much less positive note, who could forget the political problems in
Of course, these are just a few examples of some of the ‘headlines’ that are shaping the world today. It would be impossible to name everything, or indeed the impact that such events have had – and will continue to have – over the course of the next few months – and years – to come.
Many of them have forced individuals, communities, businesses and world leaders to take a step back and drastically reassess their actions.
In fact, the economy has in some ways bought about positive change – when you look at how businesses (including law firms and their KM functions) have rethought their strategy to run more leanly and efficiently, while also preparing to take advantage of the recovery period – which is now promising to be inevitable, rather than unachievable.
With that in mind, we also want to continue to evolve. The KIM Legal team wants to keep its finger on the pulse of legal know-how and the groundbreaking work of many of the people who read and contribute to the magazine, and this requires your input too. Please do get in touch with any ideas that you would like us to explore – or if you have a story to tell. We also welcome all feedback – positive or negative – so that we can respond to your needs effectively over the next 12 months.
In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy this issue of the magazine.
Kate Clifton
Head of Editorial
Features
What lawyers want
Large law firms began to focus on knowledge management (KM) in the late 1990s, not long after it emerged as a separate discipline within the wider business community. Since it was a comparative newborn, companies – and law firms – often found that they were making it up as they went along.
Consequently, in the early days of KM, many initiatives relied heavily upon IT applications and infrastructure. KM projects ended up being modelled on IT projects, even if that was not the best approach to adopt. In many cases, KM initiatives were led by IT departments, rather than operating as a separate function.
There was often no overall KM strategy or objectives; instead, many firms engaged in a series of unrelated projects that lacked the benefit of any systematic analysis of their business requirements.
Retrieving legal knowledge
Traditional approaches to managing law firm knowledge were to systematically collect, preserve and store court-approved or field-tested phrases, clauses and legal structures. However, lessons learnt show that such materials often have a tendency to become common knowledge or standard wording fairly soon. Powers of Attorney, first drafts of documents for setting up a new company, or instruments for appointing and dismissing board members may serve as examples, depending on the respective jurisdiction.
Case study: Eversheds
The provision of legal advice, particularly to global organisations, is rarely thought of as an opportunity to add value to a business or contribute in a meaningful, coordinated way to knowledge management (KM). Legal work, however, provides a wealth of information and the chance to improve business performance, reduce costs and instil organisational learning.
Engaging training
When Ark Group’s conference producer asked me to deliver a presentation on ‘engaging your workforce in training’, I told her that it would take me about 30 seconds – if you want to engage your workforce in training, then make training engaging.
I’m not being flippant or facetious, but why should people be engaged in training? They have other things to worry about, their job to get on with and all those other things associated with work. Every day they receive countless e-mails, texts and voicemails demanding that things are done.
Case study: Field Fisher Waterhouse
Recently the intranet at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP (FFW) has undergone a major change. The system, which had previously been led and maintained by IT, was replaced with new software, a new look, and a new owner. For many organisations, the intranet is led and controlled by the IT or marketing departments. At FFW, this was the situation for a number of years, but we felt a different approach was required. In early 2008 our Knowledge and Information Services (KIS) department launched a project to redesign, reorganise and release a new intranet. As a result, a new site was launched in the autumn of 2008, supplying the firm with a different type of information resource.
Cover feature: The in-house counsel perspective
Borealis is a provider of plastics solutions with more than 5,400 employees worldwide, operating (directly or through joint ventures) in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. The Borealis group has more than 60 subsidiaries and joint ventures – all of which are served by the internal legal department.
This department consists of 17 people, of which 11 are lawyers specialising in areas such as intellectual property, corporate, competition and finance law; two are insurance specialists; one is an ethics and compliance officer, and three work as paralegals. These people are located across Europe to serve our business ‘locally’, although their work is not limited to their local clients.
Regulars
Thought leader
I have been watching the press with interest as a cold wind blows through the legal world. Turnover and profits are shrinking in firms that have seen only growth throughout my working life, so where does this leave our KM teams? This is the acid test: are we a nice to have, or is it at times like this that the true value of KM is demonstrated and our teams seen as indispensable?
