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Client Facing KM and AI

Opportunities and Challenges
Ron Friedmann, Partner, Fireman & Company
ron.friedmann@firemanco.com, +1.703.527.2381

Agenda
My background in client-facing online service
What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

My Background in Client Facing KM

1998: worked for a legal expert system company
2001: As law firm CIO built a prototype service for clients
2003: Assisted large legal publisher evaluate online services
Now: As a consultant now, I advise US law firms on client facing services

Articles I have written:

My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

Clients Want Solutions, Not Information

Solutions, not just information
Why search for and read documents when a computer can answer fact-specific
questions?
More value at lower cost

What are the Issues in Online

Advisory Systems?

My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

Framework for Online Legal Services

Client
Many firms offer private
extranets with financial
data, matter-specific
documents, or deal rooms

Technology

Content-rich sites,
interactive legal guidance,
document generation, and other
tools

Information

[Back office systems support

production; they are not
directly relevant to clients]

Knowledge

Many firms have KM initiatives.

These can support client facing
systems

Internal

Credits: Framework by Richard Susskind; text by Ron Friedmann

Knowledge Management (KM) Defined

Internal KM defined
Capture and re-use know-how and locate experienced colleagues
Client-facing KM defined
Client relationship-enhancer, not tech basics. So not
Extranets or deal rooms
Training
Crystallized know-how for client consumption
Digital services for client that answer questions, assess risk, assist with
compliance, or draft documents
Contract management?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Defined

Credit: Michael Mills, Neota Logic, 2015, Artificial Intelligence in the Law: The State of the Play 2016, Part 1

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Artificial Intelligence for Client-Facing Systems

Credit: Michael Mills, Neota Logic, 2015, Artificial Intelligence in the Law: The State of the Play 2016, Part 1

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Context: AI Beyond Client Facing Services

Type of Application

What it Does

eDiscovery doc review

Faster reviews
Less human labor

Contract analytics

Facilitate due diligence

Contracts > database
Create clause banks

Legal research

Enhance legal research

Interactive legal advice

Answer or triage narrow legal questions

Intelligent intake

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My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

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Types of Client Facing Systems

Self-service systems (Q&A or form based)
Intelligent in-take: streamlined reports for counsel
Answers or alerts to lawyers when problems cannot be solved
Diagnostic check lists
Smart FAQs
Document assembly
Workflow systems
Embedded law systems
Compliance, contract management, or preventive law

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Technologies To Support Online Systems

Expert systems
Neural networks
Case-base reasoning
Document assembly
Advanced full-text retrieval
Search
Auto-categorization and taxonomy
Custom coding
Databases
Artificial intelligence

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My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

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Challenges in Building Client-Facing Systems

What content?
Research, forms, answers, documents, other?
Who creates it?
Who maintains it?
What type of content?
What platforms?
What business model?
Cost to build and operate?
Staffed in what way?
Monetized how?
For which clients and why?

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Challenges Deeper Dive

Pricing models
Free
Subscription
Per use
Other
Business goals
Cement institutional relationship (stickiness)
Win new matters or clients
Other
Ethics
Potential for unauthorized practice of law

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My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

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40+ Aus., UK, US Large Law Firms Offer Services

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Background on List of Online Legal Services

List that I built and maintain (started 2004)
http://prismlegal.com/online-legal-services/
Includes Anglo-jurisdiction firms only
Finding entries is hard
Good luck searching Google
Hard to find on firm website, even when I know a service exists
2012 crowdsourced update
Maintain with crowdsourcing + monitoring legal news

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Online Service Examples

Firm

Country

Service

Description

Allen & Overy

England

aosphere

Support for derivatives trading and key compliance

issues like shareholder disclosure, marketing
restrictions and cross border data transfers

Baker Donelson

US

Mitigated Risks

Franchisor Toolkit automates the compliance and

franchise sales communication process

Brodies

Scotland

BOrganised

Contract management

Littler

US

ComplianceHR

Employment law compliance. JV with Neota Logic

MintnerEllison

Australia

MintnerEllison
Products

PetroLawCheck and Construction Law Made Easy

Osler

Canada

AccessPrivacy

Deep content on Canadian privacy law plus associated

services

Wilson Sonsini

US

WSGR Term Sheet

Generator

Forms for start-ups

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My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

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Assessing the Opportunity

Compare online service cost to other investments
Fee generating: apply same metric that firms apply to other investments
Client development: measure payback by channel
Other investments have high fixed costs
Hiring lateral lawyers
Opening a new office

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Assessing the Cost

Lawyer time
Credit in a billable hours world
Who gets credit for new business?
Training and staffing
Software
Knowledge engineering lawyers?
Marketing and distribution
How good are law firms at web-based businesses?
Content and systems
Content creation and refresh
Platform selection and maintenance
Software and infrastructure

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My background in client-facing online service

What clients want
Online services framework and how KM and AI support it
Types of online systems + technologies
Challenges in building online systems
Firms that offer online systems
The opportunity and costs
Conclusion

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Conclusions
Market continues struggling with business issues
Production is not easy
Drive for client value a new motivator?
Ethical issues can likely be resolved but require attention
Technology will be driven by production considerations and user features

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Bonus Conclusion
A significant portion of this presentation comes from one I gave in 2002
How much has changed in the last ~15 years?
Will new economics drive change any faster?