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The Evolution of Legal KM and

Lessons for other Professionals


Oz Benamram, CKO, White & Case
Ron Friedmann, Consultant, Fireman & Company

Oz Benamram

HOW TO ESTABLISH A KNOWLEDGE


DEPARTMENT

Establishing a Knowledge Department


Practical Pre-reads / video
1. Article: www.bit.ly/kmstrategy
2. Interviews: www.bit.ly/KMinterview
3. Prioritization: www.bit.ly/Prioritize

Ron Friedmann

KM DEFINITION, HISTORY, AND


PRIORITIES

Agenda
KM definition and history
The top 10 KM initiatives then and now a 10
year evolution
What we kept and whats new
Lessons learned
How accounting may differ

KM Defined Short and Longer


Capture, share, and re-use know-how

Leverage a firms collective know-how to solve problems


rapidly and efficiently with processes and systems that
identify, capture, disseminate, and enable the re-use of
prior work and accumulated expertise

Legal KM History - 1
1970s

1990s

Brief banks
Lexis

Precedent collections
Outsourced precedents

1980s

Work product retrieval


(concept search)

Work product
retrieval (keywords)
Westlaw

Intranets
Portals

Legal KM History - 2
2000s

2010s

CKO title and


professionals roles

Collaboration + social media

Portals 2nd generation

Portals 3rd generation

Work product retrieval


(enterprise search,
experience, relevance)

Specialized tools

Litigation enhancements

Email filing + management

Legal project management


Specialized exp. location

History of Sharing and Surveys


No formal discussion until 1990
Law Practice Technology Roundtable (1990)
Private, focused on law practice, not tech

Sharing explodes (~2002)


NYC, DC, Toronto, West Coast private groups
Ark KM and International Legal Tech Assoc. (ILTA)

Surveys, Webinars, White Papers (~2007)

Legal KM in 2003 Top Initiatives


1. Precedents
2. Best practice documents how tos
3. Experience / skills locator
4. Firm-wide taxonomy
5. Matter database
6. Training programs and materials
7. Previously asked question database
8. Search
9. CRM
10.Search experts (Librarians)

Legal KM in 2014 Top Initiatives


1. Alternative fees, budgets, legal project management
2. Process Improvement
3. Search
4. Matter Management
5. Culture and change management
6. Precedents and forms
7. Portals
8. Client-facing KM
9. Collaboration
10.Content management

What Happened in 10 Years?


2003
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Precedents
Best practice
Experience / skills locator
Firm-wide taxonomy
Matter database
Training programs and
materials
7. Previously asked questions
8. Search
9. CRM
10.Search experts (Librarians)

2014
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

AFA, budgets, LPM


Process Improvement
Search
Matter Management
Culture + change
management
6. Precedents and forms
7. Portals
8. Client-facing KM
9. Collaboration
10.Content management

What We Kept and Whats New


2003
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Precedents
Best practice
Experience / skills locator
Firm-wide taxonomy
Matter database
Training programs and
materials
7. Previously asked questions
8. Search
9. CRM
10.Search experts (Librarians)

2014
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

AFA, budgets, LPM


Process Improvement
Search
Matter Management
Culture + change
management
6. Precedents and forms
7. Portals
8. Client-facing KM
9. Collaboration
10.Content management

KM Top Initiatives - 2003

Lessons Learned
Billable hour model does not motivate efficiency
investments
US law firms have a limited appetite to invest in sustained,
groomed content creation and maintenance
Technology is often but not always a good substitute for labor

Outsourcing KM is cost effective (PLC)


Change management / adoption planning essential
Ride coat tails whenever possible (e.g., marketing)
Email is still a problem to manage
We need a better theory of the matter
Top KM leaders have moved beyond traditional KM

How Accounting May Differ

Leverage
Repeatability
Fee structure
Scale
Competition

Oz Benamram and Ron Friedmann

Q&A

References
Oz Benamram, White Paper
Forming a KM Strategy for Your Firm

Ron Friedmanns Blog


A Brief History of Legal KM (Sep 2014)
Legal KM Trends Today (June 2014)
Priorities in Large Law Firms, 2014 Survey (Jan 14)

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