In this post, guest author Jim Groff of PBWorks describes the benefits of knowledge management systems for law firms, as well as the difficulties some firms have had in convincing their attorneys and staff to adopt knowledge management solutions. Groff argues that Web 2.0 technologies can increase the adoption of knowledge management systems, and thus the benefit to law firms, by integrating the systems with attorneys' everyday experiences.
Throughout the history of the electronic age, firms have attempted to implement legal knowledgebases. The promise of a systematic database of the firm's proprietary expertise has always appealed to the partnership, but wave after wave of legal knowledgebases have failed, largely for the simple reason that lawyers didn't use them. If knowledge confers competitive advantage, why has knowledge management taken so long to arrive?
"Knowledge
differentiates a law firm from its competitors," according to Gretta
Rusanow of Curve Consulting, an attorney and knowledge management
expert. "Knowledge management is about leveraging that differentiating
asset so that a law firm leads, and breaks away from, its competitors.
However, the knowledge management organization is typically isolated
and faces challenges in engaging the firm in the broad scope of what
knowledge management is--and can bring to this knowledge-based
business."
Knowledge Management specialists within firms work
hard to set up and maintain KM technology, but without grassroots
adoption, many KM initiatives languish from lack of use. Placing the
emphasis on technology, rather than user behavior, tends to distract
from the real barrier to adoption: Attorneys and staff simply don't see
enough individual value to take time away from urgent (and billable)
day-to-day activities to complete additional tasks required by a
separate knowledge management tool.
"Too often KM becomes a
conversation about technology . . . if you want to converse with
lawyers about value, talk about value instead of technology," said Toby
Brown of Fulbright & Jaworski. "This focuses the dialogue on the
benefits to the lawyers and not on the cost of any technology involved.
Solve the problem, instead of offering technology."
Getting beyond technology to deliver value
Now,
however, a new generation of legal knowledgebase tools based on Web 2.0
technology (including PBworks Legal Edition, which has users at 24 of
the top 25 firms on the AmLaw 100) is solving the usability issues and
integrating the knowledgebase into the everyday work of a firm. These
new Web 2.0 technologies may finally fulfill the long-deferred
promise. And they are emerging at the same time as the current
economic crisis is forcing firms to place a greater importance on
efficiency and productivity.
"At a time when clients are
likely to challenge every item of charge, having efficient systems in
place for producing work becomes vital," writes Karen Battersby of
Nottingham Law School. "The transfer of knowledge from individual
lawyers to teams of lawyers is also essential in a climate where lawyer
redundancies are increasing and departments need to operate with leaner
resources."
So what do Web 2.0 knowledgebases offer that has
been missing until now? There are three overarching factors that allow
this generation of tools to break with the past:
Ease of use
Searchability
Integration with actual lawyering
The
first key is to make the legal knowledgebase easy to use. Few
attorneys are enamored of technology for technology's sake. However,
they will gladly adopt technology that delivers value. In the case of
legal technology, the real cost of the technology isn't in purchasing
or licensing the product, but rather lies in the amount of time it
takes to apply the tool. With average billing rates exceeding
$350/hour, it doesn't take many usability issues or helpdesk calls to
make the cost of poor usability far dwarf the out-of-pocket cost for
the product.
To meet usability requirements, knowledgebase tools
must include the ability to easily collaborate with other team members
on research, search and acquire information from a wide variety of
sources, organize information in pages with folders and tags, and link
to relevant documents downloaded from external content sources. The
interface must be intuitive and flexible to meet the work styles and
capabilities of a variety of people -- from administrators to
paralegals, attorneys and partners.
The second key to
successful legal knowledgebases lies in searchability. In a Google
world, everyone expects to be able to find whatever information they
need with a single search. A knowledgebase product that supports a
very broad set of search capabilities will give users better access to
information and will be a tool users actually depend on daily.
Users
need to search both structured and unstructured data--everything from
proprietary knowledge about specific judges, arbitrators/mediators, and
expert witnesses, to key citations for legal issues, important
jurisdiction information, and other legal issues. And searches must
include both information entered specifically into the knowledgebase as
well as information in uploaded and imported documents. Indeed, simply
making it possible to easily search the full text of documents can save
an enormous amount of time.
The final, and perhaps most
important key to the success of Web 2.0 knowledgebases lies in their
ability to integrate with the daily work of lawyering. The right tools
ensure that attorneys and staff don't have to make a special effort to
enter additional information into a separate knowledge management
system.
"I can't emphasize this enough: making lawyers enter
information multiple times is a recipe for failure," said Dennis
Kennedy of Thompson Coburn. "Lawyers have proven that they will not
change the way that they work. For better or worse, finding ways to
work around them or taking them as you find them have more likelihood
of success than anything does that involves a behavior change."
A
knowledgebase that grows organically by matching the unique work habits
of different users is a knowledgebase users will actually use
When
legal knowledgebases can match the work habits and quirks of firm and
their employees, the information in them will grow organically, in a
self-organizing fashion a la Wikipedia. However, once you clear the
usability hurdles, one more crucial component is required: Law firms
require a private, proprietary environment that restricts access to
information to the members of the firm, and sometimes to the members of
a specific team. The new tools, like PBworks Legal Edition, must allow
firms to restrict access to information as needed. Access via PDAs and Phones
While
firms must restrict access to authorized users, they must
simultaneously provide authorized users with access to information via
different technology. As more lawyers turn to smart phones and PDA,
products must also include mobile access to the knowledgebase
(including files) via Blackberry and iPhone to fully integrate with the
way most attorneys actually work.
With the right tool set,
rather than sending out ad hoc information requests via team- or
practice-wide emails, or in hallway conversations, firms use the legal
knowledgebase to capture, store, and refine the legal expertise of
their employees. This legal knowledgebase is especially effective for
litigators, though it also offers benefits to transactional practices
as well.
This kind of shared information resource is especially
valuable for multi-office firms. Using a legal knowledgebase as a
firm-wide clearinghouse is a lot easier than searching individual
servers (or worse, attorneys' laptops) in the various offices. If you
wind up on a case that deals with Japanese contract law, this
searchable knowledgebase will help you connect with the right resources
within the firm.
As more lawyers turn to smart phones and PDA,
products must also include mobile access to the entire knowledgebase
(including files) via Blackberry and iPhone to fully integrate with the
way most attorneys actually do their work.
The lessons of 2.0 make knowledgebases practical for today's law firms
In
contrast to previous generations of legal knowledgebases, today's
products use the lessons of Web 2.0 to provide an easy-to-use,
searchable platform that seamlessly integrates with the way attorneys
and staff perform their work. This integration allows knowledgebases
to grow and evolve organically, without requiring users to enter
information multiple times or learn separate tools in addition to those
they use for their everyday work. And in these pressure-packed times,
with clients demanding greater efficiency from their counsel,
re-examining a knowledge management strategy is an investment that pays
great and immediate dividends. About the Author
Jim Groff, the CEO of PBworks,
builds powerful collaboration systems that real people actually like
using. His company PBworks provides hosted collaboration solutions for
law, business and education.