An Introduction to Knowledge Management

for Law Firms

LawTech Camp 2012May 12, 2012Connie Crosby, Crosby Group ConsultingStephanie Barnes, Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting

Connie Crosby• Consultant in KM, IM, library

management and social media

• Law Librarian with MLS from University of Toronto

• Information Management certificate from U of T

• 10 years as Library Manager & webmaster at prominent Toronto law firm

• Instructor at iSchool Institute, Faculty of Information, U of T

• Core contributor to Slaw.ca

• Accountant and IT Management by education

• KM consultant by choice• Chief Chaos Organizer at Missing

Puzzle Piece Consulting, Knoco franchisee

• 4 yrs KM at HP• 8+ yrs as consultant to a variety

of companies including BMO, HSFO, Kodak, HP, Zenon Environmental, OSC, CIBC, ENEC

• Based in Toronto

Stephanie Barnes

What is Knowledge Management?

Connecting people to the knowledge they need to do their jobs, whether that knowledge is tacit (in people’s heads) or explicit (documented).

Some Benefits of KM

• Better organization

Helping partners, associates and assistants get their hands on the right documents and information when they are needed.

Some Benefits of KM

• Better organization• Better use of knowledge assets

Make better use of internally developed knowledge assets such as precedents, letters, research memoranda, and filings.

Some Benefits of KM

• Better organization• Better use of knowledge assets• Knowledge sharing

Be prepared for a partner or associate leaving the firm. Help lawyers share what will be needed to continue the firm’s business.

Some Benefits of KM

• Better organization• Better use of knowledge assets• Knowledge sharing• Improved learning

Use “Lessons Learned” techniques as you work; make assessments and continually improve processes for better client service.

Explicit Knowledge(documented knowledge)

• Business plans• Client lists• Work product

(letters, factums, agreements)

• Forms and Precedents

• Meeting minutes• Blogs/wikis

Based on a slide by Steven Lastres

Tacit Knowledge(knowledge in individuals’ heads)

• Social networks• In-house training• Mentoring• Communities of

Practice / Practice groups

• Matter summaries

Based on a slide by Steven Lastres

Knowledge Flow

People

Knowledge Repository

People Knowledge Repositoryto

from

Based on Nonaka and Takeuchi, “The Knowledge Creating Company,” p62

Approach

© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 12

Change Management(People)

• Communication Plan• Training and Education Plan• Stakeholder management

All three will need to be updated/evolved as the program progresses

© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 13

Business Intelligence/ Data Warehouse

Cont

ext

Organization/ Enterprise

Group/team

Individual

Scan, Map

Capture, Create

Package, Store

Share, Apply

Transform, Innovate

Learning Management/eLearning

ECM Component Content

ManagementPortal

Records Management

Document Capture

Communities of Practice, Expertise location

Social Media

Adapted from: Knowledge Managements by Despres and Chuvel, Journal of KM, vol 3, no. 2 1999, p119.

Collaboration

CRM, Contact Centre, Incident Management/Helpdesk

eDiscovery

Search

© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 14

Knowledge Management Technology

Knowledge Management Framework

Framework - Component Activities

Documented Knowledge

• Portal/Intranet• Document Management• E-mail Management• Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Documented Handling

• Document Assembly• Component Content Management• Records Management

Sharing and Collaboration

• Lessons Learned• Communities of Practice / Practice groups• Social Media• Collaboration• Expertise Location

Supporting

• IT Management• Workflow• Search

Innovation

• Idea Management• Business Intelligence

Documented Knowledge Lifecycle Process

Knowledge Management Roadmap

© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 23

Case Study: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt

© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 24

KM Technology KM Implementation Results, if knownPortal Successful User acceptance of the platform because they were

involved at each step of the process and a technology was selected that met their requirements.

Description: Focused on choosing the right knowledge management technology platform, which included gathering the right people to build, promote and champion the platform. The team had to be familiar with the iterative nature of the implementation and most importantly they had to support and believe in the vision for the new Intranet and be in a position to evangelize it to their peers.

Since the launch of Oslernet, a number of these key groups were included on a steering committee to continuously advise on the ongoing evaluation and evolution of the Intranet. The Intranet team created a detailed Help Protocol to identify and redirect any issues that users were having to the appropriate experts for quick resolution regardless of the channel through which the request came. Substantive legal questions, for example, may come into the IS Service Desk but are re-directed to the appropriate knowledge management lawyer.

Case Study: Hicks Morley

25

KM Technology KM Implementation

Results, if known

Wiki-based CMS ThoughtFarmer

Successful User acceptance of the platform because they ran a pilot with a simple wiki in a small early adopter group to gather requirements, and had a senior partner champion.

Description: Under-utlized HTML-based intranet was replaced with a wiki-based content management system. A pilot with some inexpensive wiki software with a small practice group produced good early results and allowed for requirements gathering. ThoughtFarmer met the requirements. New Intranet was launched firm-wide within 6 months from start of pilot to full implementation.

Since the launch of ThoughtFarmer, a social enterprise layer including profiles and tagging has been implemented. Early success came in the form of a senior partner who, previously sceptical, found immediate value in the new system and went on to promote use of the new platform within the firm. Documents and content are being added by members of the firm from all levels. The Knowledge Management team review content to ensure metadata is correctly in place. New features are being added as more needs are being identified.

Learn more

Aligning People, Process and Technology in Knowledge Management

By Stephanie BarnesArk Group report, 2011

Learn more

Knowledge Workers Torontomonthly meetup group

1. - Methods:http://toronto.methods.knowledgeworkers.org/

2. - Technology:http://toronto.technology.knowledgeworkers.org/

Learn More

• Ted Tjaden - http://www.slaw.ca/author/tjaden/• Heather Colman- http://www.llrx.com/authors/1155• Patrick DiDomenico - http://lawyerkm.com/• Mary Abraham - http://aboveandbeyondkm.com/• Tom Baldwin - http://kmpipeline.blogspot.ca/• David Hobbie - http://caselines.blogspot.ca/• Nick Milton (Knoco) - http://www.nickmilton.com/• ILTA KM - http://km.iltanet.org/• 3 Geeks and a Law Blog -

http://www.geeklawblog.com/search/label/KM

Law Firm KMLawFirmKM.com

Connie Crosby connie@lawfirmkm.com

416-919-6719

Stephanie Barnesstephanie@lawfirmkm.com

416-522-5126

Thank you