'Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession': Tracking the progress of KM for 11 years

In the changing world of KM, the annual ARK Group US legal KM conference has provided attendees with insight on current and future developments in KM for the past 11 years. Each year the conference covers some of the most important developments in legal KM, and provides expert guidance on how firms can and are responding to them. Some of the highlights and themes of this year's conference are outlined below, and experts from the event share their advice in the articles in this special KM focus.

Knowledge management's role in law firm strategy

This year, the conference took place on 21-22 October in New York, and kicked off with a keynote from Jennifer Keller, Chief Operating Officer at Baker Donelson. Jennifer spoke about the efforts to which they have gone in her firm to ensure KM is central to the firm's strategy. When asked how she thinks KM is changing, Jennifer stated that the acceptance of KM by lawyers has been rapidly growing: "The biggest change now is that attorneys are listening, and they're paying attention - they have to!" Jennifer underlined the importance of KM in law firms, and referred to it as "tomorrow's way of delivering legal services". It is important that KM is integrated into the strategic fabric of every law firm in order for this to be possible, and this is what she focuses on in her article.

The importance of data

Ed Walters's TED-style talk focused on the importance of data, and he drew on some compelling lessons from the oil industry. He referenced John D. Rockefeller and his determination to make every aspect of the oil refinement process profitable. The comparison of oil to data in this instance advocated squeezing as much value as possible from the data you have. The value of data and the importance of understanding and using the knowledge that already exists in a law firm was a recurring theme in this year's conference. Knowledge management professionals must ensure that firms are not wasting the valuable data they already possess, and this is discussed further in Ed's article.

To Oz Benamram (Chief Knowledge Officer at White & Case), KM can be summed up as "enabling the lawyers in the firm to improve the quality and efficiency of the services they provide by giving them access to the firm's collective knowledge". Oz also acknowledged big data - "the ability to create data-driven decisions and to rely on computers to do some of the more mundane tasks, allowing lawyers to focus on the really high-value aspects of the role" - as an issue which will have a big impact on legal KM in the next few years.

This opinion was echoed by Chad Ergun (Director, Global Practice Services and Business Intelligence at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher): "We're going to see more and more predictive algorithms moving into PSL jobs, which are going to create an increased demand for technology to handle some of the processes". This was examined in a session on client and matter profiling, and Chad provides advice on matter lifecycle management (MLM) within this publication.

Networking and knowledge sharing

The opportunity to discuss KM with experts and peers is a huge factor in the success of the conference. In fact, co-chairs Joshua Fireman (founder and President of Fireman & Company) and Patrick DiDomenico (Director of Knowledge Management at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, PC) made a point of letting attendees know they would facilitate introductions between people at the event.

This underlines the importance of networking and the collaborative nature of legal KM. This was supported, for example, by Kim Glover (Manager of Knowledge Management at FMC) who highlighted the usefulness of "the flow of knowledge and the collaboration on and building of what everyone thinks and believes to be the issues of the future".

Promoting innovation, change, and practice management

Knowledge management also has a role to play in law firm innovation. The case study from White & Case on change management provided insight into the process behind transforming intentions into practice - and making it stick. It is impossible to implement a change without casualties, so it is important to manage emotional and psychological reactions to the change.

Innovation is often the result of a big crisis, and if law does not feel that it is in crisis, the drive to innovate diminishes. Catherine Monte (Chief Knowledge Officer at Fox Rothschild) said KM professionals "have to be more nimble and broad in our approach, because I think we should be seen as the innovators in regards to the practice group".

KM is an integral part of practice management, and Joshua Fireman stated that the next year will see "a focus, not just on the design of tools, but around the entirety of the practice of law, and how people and knowledge are going to flow through a modern practice. There will be a giant focus on a holistic approach to practice management and the impact of advanced data analytics on decision making in the firms." Joshua highlighted the ever growing and changing nature of legal KM: "Every year we ask ourselves: 'What is there left to talk about?' And every year we find something new and different."

KM is an increasingly recognised factor in the success of every law firm, and the importance of staying on top of developments in this area to better assist lawyers in their day-to-day work, meet client demands, and gain or maintain competitive advantage cannot be underestimated.