Knowledge Management for Law Firms :: In case you missed it… Feb 10-16, 2008

Here are some of my favorite legal knowledge management blog posts and other items from the week of February 10 - 16, 2008:

• 2/15 - Launch of Enterprise 2.0 Task Force - David Hobbie of caselines gives us a look at what they’re doing (and their approach) over at Goodwin Procter with wikis, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, RSS, SharePoint, etc.
• 2/15 - Knowledge Management Snapshot for 2008 - Ron Friedmann of Strategic Legal Technology summarized a nice list of what participants of a recent KM function noted as their top KM priorities for 2008.
• 2/13 - Putting the Social into Social Media - Doug Cornelius of KM Space reflected on real-life connections brought about by online activity.
• 2/15 - Do Wikis belong in Law Firms? - (also posted here) - Connie Crosby shared a really nice slideshare presentation on Wikis in law firms.
• 2/12 - Wikis in Law Firms - An Alternative View - Ted Tjaden sparked a hot discussion in the comments about how (or if) wikis belong in law firms.
• 2/12 - iConnect at Deloitte - Jack Vinson of Knowledge Jolt with Jack wrote about Deloitte’s new expertise location application that monitors email traffic and extracts key words and phrases from communications.
• 2/10 - GoogleDocs - Collect Spreadsheet Data via Email - Cindy Chick of LawLibTech tells us how to use Google Docs to create a form and collect the data from email recipients. More info from the Google Docs Blog.
• On a wiki-related note, but from last week, before I started “In case you missed it…,” Doug Cornelius of KM Space, is looking for law firm wiki stories and speakers for a panel on the use of wikis in law firms to be presented at the ILTA conference in August. Details here.

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Who Manages Knowledge Management in Law Firms (from ILTA)?

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) has published its 2007 IT Staffing Survey.  It’s chock full of interesting information.

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One part of the study examined who manages the KM efforts at law firms of various sizes.

A few trends to note: (1) the larger the firm, the more likely that KM is managed by groups outside of the IT department; (2) larger firms tend to not outsource KM; (3) there are still a lot of firms who are not performing any KM.  

The first trend is not surprising.  The more “knowledge there is to manage” (ususally larger firms have more), the more specialized the staff needs to be to handle it and truly support the lawyers.  IT is essential because KM so heavily relies on technology; but increasingly, there are dedicated people and groups to focus all of their efforts on KM (both the content and technology). 

The second trend also makes sense.  Well-developed KM programs involve more than just a work-product retrieval system (which could be maintained by outsourcing).  Dedicated KM personnel who are integrated into law firms are more likely to be able to determine the KM needs and desires of the lawyers and staff.  

The third trend may make sense, but it is troubling.  Very large firms (more than 500 users) usually have greater need (and greater budgets) for KM, so the relatively high KM adoption rate seems right.  But over half of large firms (252-500 users) do not perform KM.  Let’s hope that they actually do KM but just don’t call it KM.  It will be interesting to see if this trend shifts in the future.   Even more troubling however, is that compared to last year’s numbers (see the report here), the percentage of firms not performing KM increased in all but medium sized firms.  (Small: -5% | Medium: +8% | Large: -14% | Very Large: -9%). 

While the numbers are what they are, they don’t seem to comport with the buzz on the web or on ILTA forums, and elsewhere.  It seems that more and more, firms are expanding their KM programs.  What does this mean for KM?  Please share your thoughts. 

By the way, if you are not an ILTA member, then you should join.  It is a fantastic organization. 

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

ILTA - New York Area Event | Knowledge Management

Are you going? 

ILTA is having a NEW YORK REGION SOCIAL EVENT in midtown Manhattan. 

Date:  October 25, 2007
           6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Appetizers and Drinks Sponsored by:   mindSHIFT Technologies and Interwoven

Location: Cellar Bar at the Bryant Park Hotel
                 40 W 40th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves
                 New York, NY  90071
                 Host:  Steve Skidmore

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management for Lawyers and Law Firms

More ILTA Coverage | Knowledge Management

There is more good ILTA coverage at the Caselines blog by David Hobbie, Goodwin Procter’s Litigation Knowledge Manager.   It is great to see so much knowledge sharing among the legal KM community! 

Speaking of which, if you have not joined ILTA’s KM Peer Group, you are missing out. 

There has been a lot of lively discussion lately about the Share Point, West km, Lexis Total Search, Recommind, Autonomy, and RealPractice.  We love to see what everyone has to say about these and other products.    

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management for Lawyers and Law Firms

 

ILTA Wrap up | Knowledge Management

In his KM Space blog (see our Blogroll), Doug Cornelius is doing a great job of summarizing the happenings at the ILTA conference.   We almost feel like we are there.  Thanks Doug! 

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management for Lawyers and Law Firms

Conference: ILTA ‘07 - Knowledge Management Peer Group Track

ILTA’s 30th Annual Educational Conference takes place August 20 – 23, 2007 at Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, FL. 

LawyerKM likes ILTA and the KM Peer Group.  The conference is a great time and a great place to learn about legal technology (including KM).  There are a lot of great people involved - some of whom are mentioned in this schedule of the KM Peer Group’s conference track.

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management for Lawyers and Law Firms

ILTA: Knowledge Management - Refinement and Enlightenment

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) published a new white paper (which is ironically neither white nor a paper) entitled “Knowledge Management - Refinement and Enlightenment.” From ILTA’s description: “Our last white paper on knowledge management (June 2006) focused on finding the knowledge available in firms and law departments. This time around, the undercurrent seems to have shifted toward the softer side of KM - categorization, vetting and taxonomy - allowing the technology to work more efficiently for us. The shift only leads us to believe that a majority of organizations have some flavor of KM in place, and they are now in the fine-tuning phase.”