Innovate not recreate

The first 2010 issue of KIM Legal has a distinctly continental feel and anyone who attended Ark’s recent Knowledge Management in the European Legal Profession conference in Amsterdam, will recognise the names and faces of some of the contributors. At this stage I would like to thank all those involved in producing this issue of the magazine, during a period of substantial change – but more on that later.

For now, I would like to focus on innovation, which seems to be the season’s buzzword. It features predominantly in our sister publication Inside Knowledge and was also a key theme in the conversations I have had with those who attended the event mentioned above.

Indeed, Reidar Gjersvik (see page 10) provides some useful insight into the many different roles that knowledge management (KM) has to play in pushing law firms out of their comfort zones and enabling them to deliver truly innovative services to their clients. He mentions facilitator, broker, ideologist and project leader, to name but a few.

It’s not just a matter of doing something new. In fact, the very definition of innovation is a subject that is open to much discussion. To be truly innovative, a firm must decide exactly what ‘innovation’ means to its business. Is it something novel or quirky, which has never been tried before? Is it a new way of performing a process that has been done a thousand times previously? Only when this has been determined can any real work be done.

And it is for that reason that KM is such a driving force – it is the business function that sits at the heart of any law firm worth its salt: its knowledge. It has a key role to play in ensuring that the firm utilises it collective knowledge to maximum capacity. And for this to be achieved, fee earners and partners need to be fully engaged too. Representatives from three very different law firms discuss the work that they are doing in this area in the cover feature (page 13).

Here at KIM Legal, we’re looking at a few innovations of our own. Following our recent office move (which has brought together core teams from several publishing divisions) the appetite for change and new ways of working has never been stronger. Admittedly, some of us have had to shake a few cobwebs off along the way – and there is a steep learning curve to negotiate – but everyone is looking forward to exciting times ahead.

Individuals who have never spoken to each other before, let alone worked in close proximity, have been bouncing ideas around and relishing the opportunity to learn from each other. It’s proof that a change really can do you good.

Features

Guerilla KM This article is for subscribers only
If there’s one thing you can say about knowledge management (KM) professionals, it’s that we’re a flexible lot. We wear many hats as we endeavour to facilitate change – often in uncooperative and, perhaps even, adversarial environments. Being successful necessitates pushing the limits of our flexibility and, true to the multi-disciplinary nature of our field, drawing inspiration from unlikely sources.

The strongest link This article is for subscribers only
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Martindale Hubbell Connected, Legal OnRamp. Few law firms can afford the time and resources necessary to have an active presence on all of these social networking sites. So, if a firm has to choose one, which should it be?

Driving innovation This article is for subscribers only
The knowledge management (KM) function in a law firm sits on the interfaces between core resources, roles, processes and functions in the organisation. Because of this, KM might take on several crucial roles to promote or drive innovation in the firm. Some of these, which are described later, are the roles of facilitator, broker, service provider, project leader, champion and ideologist.

Knowledge doesn't matter This article is for subscribers only
This probably looks like the worst title possible for an article on issues faced when implementing a knowledge management (KM) strategy in European law firms. Nevertheless, this phrase represents the biggest issue of all for any KM initiative (regardless of whether it is in Europe or anywhere else). The problem is often the realisation that there is no true commitment to a KM initiative within your firm, along with the assumption that there is no way for you to rescue the situation. Suddenly, knowledge no longer matters.

It's all about the money This article is for subscribers only
A recent report published by the International In-house Counsel Journal (IICJ) sheds light on some very interesting issues when it comes to the background for clients’ choice of law firm. The full report can be downloaded here: www.iicj.net.
Not surprisingly, the clients look at price, and they expect discounts or some sort of fixed fee. It is particularly interesting that clients bargain on a case-by-case basis – and not only because they deliver a vast volume of cases.

Regulars

Cover feature: A strategic imperative This article is for subscribers only
Back in 2006, in KIM Legal’s launch issue cover feature, interviewees commented on the ‘knowledge is power’ attitude, which was prevalent among lawyers at the time. This, combined with the constant pressure to complete billable activities, meant that updating a precedent or posting information to the knowledge repository were often far down lawyers’ list of things to do.

Thought leader This article is for subscribers only
One of the main themes at the conference was that we are in a new legal landscape, partly due to the economic crisis and also because of so-called ‘Tesco Law’, in the case of the UK. Therefore, we have to look at possibilities to outsource work, make even better use of our knowledge management (KM) technology and perhaps buy more from external content providers, such as PLC, then try to integrate that information into our own systems.