Knowledge Management: Lose the Label and Focus on Clients

The label “knowledge management” (KM) means different things to different people. For IT types, it often means technology solutions to the information deluge facing business today ' intranet portals, document management and extranets, to name a few. For MBAs, knowledge management implies organizational systems and processes to capture, disseminate and leverage the collective wisdom of a business enterprise.

For most lawyers, unfortunately, the words “knowledge management” mean little or nothing. I'm not suggesting that lawyers do not appreciate the competitive imperative to make the most of their firm's collective knowledge and expertise. But the label “knowledge management” does not work well in law firms. It sounds like just so much vague jargon having little to do with real-life client expectations. Since successful KM requires lawyers to buy in and collaborate, the jargon can stand between you and the significant payback that KM has to offer.

So, how do you successfully implement knowledge management in a law firm? How do you get management's attention and win the support of partners and associates?

My advice is to lose the KM label. Do not use the words “knowledge management” (or use them sparingly). Instead, focus your efforts and your language on client service. If you justify, explain and phrase everything in terms of doing what really matters for your clients, the need for managing knowledge should become readily apparent to even the most cynical lawyer. Moreover, a client-centered approach to your firm's knowledge management initiative can be a key driver in its success.

One Firm's KM Experience

Like most large law firms, Dorsey & Whitney has always engaged in efforts to provide lawyers with the forms, work product and other resources they need to deliver top quality legal services to clients. Until recently, though, we did not call these efforts “knowledge management.”

Our firm first used the KM label in late 2000 when we began a more disciplined effort to catalog, improve and coordinate these resources on a firm-wide basis and formed a task force led by partners in our corporate group. While well aware of the buzz about knowledge management emanating from U.K. legal circles and reverberating throughout the top U.S. firms, the partners serving on this task force were motivated primarily by what they saw in their day-to-day practice.

These partners knew first-hand that when a client calls with a question or piece of work they expect their lawyer to tap into know-how and work product of the broader law firm. Clients are not interested in paying for re-invention of the wheel. They also expect lawyers to substantiate their marketing claims that clients will benefit from experience and expertise located throughout the firm. Since most clients recognize the importance of collaboration to their own business strategy, they expect no less from their lawyers.

Meeting these client expectations in a firm with over 700 lawyers in more than 20 offices throughout the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe presented a crucial challenge. In tackling it, we have kept our firm-wide KM project close to our lawyers and the clients with whom they work. We have stayed away from trying to implement another firm's technology solution.

We first concentrated on the KM needs of our corporate group, which is responsible for managing a substantial number of our key client relationships. This group was also a logical starting point because it already had a number of knowledge sharing efforts underway. This strategy also ensured that our KM leadership came from practicing lawyers with plenty of experience in what it takes to keep clients happy.

Today, our rich Intranet, which includes a dedicated KM content management system known as KnowledgeFinder, serves as the main artery of our KM system. Since implementation of KnowledgeFinder in early 2002, content has grown substantially in direct relation to those resources identified by lawyers as being needed to serve our clients. KnowledgeFinder is easily searchable by full text, keywords or document type or navigable by subject matter. Content includes “best practice” forms and guides, samples, memos, checklists and training materials. KnowledgFinder also contains a wide variety of e-mail chains containing both novel and recurring questions and answers among practitioners throughout the firm.

Our KM project is far from complete, but it is off to a promising start. Feedback from lawyers and clients, though anecdotal, indicates that our efforts have improved service while allowing lawyers to more easily access know-how and resources. Putting the right information into the right hands at the right time has delivered new business and opportunities. As the firm embarks on a strategic client service initiative, knowledge management is expected to be a critical element in the overall plan.

Upon reflection, however, our success has come from the client-service focus of those involved. The KM label has added little. In fact, it may have turned lawyers off.

Building a Successful KM Program

Your firm's knowledge management goals ' and how you implement and name your programs to achieve them ' will (and should) differ from those of your competitors. There are, however, some key elements behind a successful program to manage your firm's knowledge assets.

Begin with what clients want. Recent general counsel surveys (by Altman Weil, BTI and Huron) indicate that clients see significant room for improvement in the services provided by their outside law firms. These same clients are also planning to reduce the total number of law firms with whom they work. Clients may not be asking for knowledge management by name, but they want their law firms to respond more quickly, collaborate and share more effectively, deliver services on time and within budget, tailor services more closely to their needs and deliver value ' all of which have a distinctively KM resonance. For clients, KM means nothing less than the promise of a more cost-effective and just-plain-better delivery of legal services. So talk to clients before deciding what you need to do.

Focus on people and processes, not technology. Knowledge management is, first and foremost, a human issue that cannot be resolved by a technology solution. While e-mail can change the way you send a message or document from here to there, it doesn't improve the communication unless human behavior also changes. Throwing new technologies at your lawyers and clients in the hope of doing better may leave you disappointed and your lawyers frustrated. Instead, make sure that practicing lawyers and their clients lead a process in which technology serves as an enabler, not an end in itself. Even if your KM initiative is nothing more than designating individuals around the firm who serve as knowledge “liaisons” to experts and resources, you will have accomplished quite a lot.

Know what motivates. Commanding compliance with a KM initiative is unlikely to ensure its success, even if the command comes from the very top (which it seldom does) and even if it is linked directly to compensation (which it rarely does). Let clients voice the demand, however, and lawyers will tend to pay attention. When talking about KM, always start with the proposition that the firm's clients will not tolerate failure to deliver consistent quality or the reinvention of the wheel. Reinforce the message that clients expect more for their money than the work product and experience of one or two lawyers.

Track the benefits of collaboration. Recently, Business Week told the success stories of companies that have embarked on collaboration strategies. Many law firms have their own tales of how a collaborative effort resulted in a significant win. Take a closer look at the real-world triumphs within your firm and you will start to see a pattern: sharing and collaboration produce results. Conversely, also track the benefits of your KM efforts. Make sure you publish and promote the successes. These will lead by example.

Stay focused. Trying to implement a firm-wide KM solution incorporating all of your practices and clients would be cost-prohibitive, overwhelming for users and doomed to fail. Instead, set clear priorities. These should be a combination of “must wins” and “quick wins.” To help manage costs, implement knowledge management in stages, beginning with individuals who are most interested and practice areas that have the most to gain.

Conclusion

Whatever you call it, law firms need an over-arching, disciplined and strategic plan to address client demands and excel at service in an increasingly competitive environment. While there are many reasons to implement KM initiatives involving internal operations – such as, managing risk, reducing lawyer stress levels, keeping critical knowledge from walking out the door, integrating new lawyers faster and more efficiently, better utilizing existing technologies, and doing more (work) with less (non-lawyer staff) ' I believe that the most compelling reasons to manage knowledge come from clients.

The label “knowledge management” (KM) means different things to different people. For IT types, it often means technology solutions to the information deluge facing business today ' intranet portals, document management and extranets, to name a few. For MBAs, knowledge management implies organizational systems and processes to capture, disseminate and leverage the collective wisdom of a business enterprise.

For most lawyers, unfortunately, the words “knowledge management” mean little or nothing. I'm not suggesting that lawyers do not appreciate the competitive imperative to make the most of their firm's collective knowledge and expertise. But the label “knowledge management” does not work well in law firms. It sounds like just so much vague jargon having little to do with real-life client expectations. Since successful KM requires lawyers to buy in and collaborate, the jargon can stand between you and the significant payback that KM has to offer.

So, how do you successfully implement knowledge management in a law firm? How do you get management's attention and win the support of partners and associates?

My advice is to lose the KM label. Do not use the words “knowledge management” (or use them sparingly). Instead, focus your efforts and your language on client service. If you justify, explain and phrase everything in terms of doing what really matters for your clients, the need for managing knowledge should become readily apparent to even the most cynical lawyer. Moreover, a client-centered approach to your firm's knowledge management initiative can be a key driver in its success.

One Firm's KM Experience

Like most large law firms, Dorsey & Whitney has always engaged in efforts to provide lawyers with the forms, work product and other resources they need to deliver top quality legal services to clients. Until recently, though, we did not call these efforts “knowledge management.”

Our firm first used the KM label in late 2000 when we began a more disciplined effort to catalog, improve and coordinate these resources on a firm-wide basis and formed a task force led by partners in our corporate group. While well aware of the buzz about knowledge management emanating from U.K. legal circles and reverberating throughout the top U.S. firms, the partners serving on this task force were motivated primarily by what they saw in their day-to-day practice.

These partners knew first-hand that when a client calls with a question or piece of work they expect their lawyer to tap into know-how and work product of the broader law firm. Clients are not interested in paying for re-invention of the wheel. They also expect lawyers to substantiate their marketing claims that clients will benefit from experience and expertise located throughout the firm. Since most clients recognize the importance of collaboration to their own business strategy, they expect no less from their lawyers.

Meeting these client expectations in a firm with over 700 lawyers in more than 20 offices throughout the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe presented a crucial challenge. In tackling it, we have kept our firm-wide KM project close to our lawyers and the clients with whom they work. We have stayed away from trying to implement another firm's technology solution.

We first concentrated on the KM needs of our corporate group, which is responsible for managing a substantial number of our key client relationships. This group was also a logical starting point because it already had a number of knowledge sharing efforts underway. This strategy also ensured that our KM leadership came from practicing lawyers with plenty of experience in what it takes to keep clients happy.

Today, our rich Intranet, which includes a dedicated KM content management system known as KnowledgeFinder, serves as the main artery of our KM system. Since implementation of KnowledgeFinder in early 2002, content has grown substantially in direct relation to those resources identified by lawyers as being needed to serve our clients. KnowledgeFinder is easily searchable by full text, keywords or document type or navigable by subject matter. Content includes “best practice” forms and guides, samples, memos, checklists and training materials. KnowledgFinder also contains a wide variety of e-mail chains containing both novel and recurring questions and answers among practitioners throughout the firm.

Our KM project is far from complete, but it is off to a promising start. Feedback from lawyers and clients, though anecdotal, indicates that our efforts have improved service while allowing lawyers to more easily access know-how and resources. Putting the right information into the right hands at the right time has delivered new business and opportunities. As the firm embarks on a strategic client service initiative, knowledge management is expected to be a critical element in the overall plan.

Upon reflection, however, our success has come from the client-service focus of those involved. The KM label has added little. In fact, it may have turned lawyers off.

Building a Successful KM Program

Your firm's knowledge management goals ' and how you implement and name your programs to achieve them ' will (and should) differ from those of your competitors. There are, however, some key elements behind a successful program to manage your firm's knowledge assets.

Begin with what clients want. Recent general counsel surveys (by Altman Weil, BTI and Huron) indicate that clients see significant room for improvement in the services provided by their outside law firms. These same clients are also planning to reduce the total number of law firms with whom they work. Clients may not be asking for knowledge management by name, but they want their law firms to respond more quickly, collaborate and share more effectively, deliver services on time and within budget, tailor services more closely to their needs and deliver value ' all of which have a distinctively KM resonance. For clients, KM means nothing less than the promise of a more cost-effective and just-plain-better delivery of legal services. So talk to clients before deciding what you need to do.

Focus on people and processes, not technology. Knowledge management is, first and foremost, a human issue that cannot be resolved by a technology solution. While e-mail can change the way you send a message or document from here to there, it doesn't improve the communication unless human behavior also changes. Throwing new technologies at your lawyers and clients in the hope of doing better may leave you disappointed and your lawyers frustrated. Instead, make sure that practicing lawyers and their clients lead a process in which technology serves as an enabler, not an end in itself. Even if your KM initiative is nothing more than designating individuals around the firm who serve as knowledge “liaisons” to experts and resources, you will have accomplished quite a lot.

Know what motivates. Commanding compliance with a KM initiative is unlikely to ensure its success, even if the command comes from the very top (which it seldom does) and even if it is linked directly to compensation (which it rarely does). Let clients voice the demand, however, and lawyers will tend to pay attention. When talking about KM, always start with the proposition that the firm's clients will not tolerate failure to deliver consistent quality or the reinvention of the wheel. Reinforce the message that clients expect more for their money than the work product and experience of one or two lawyers.

Track the benefits of collaboration. Recently, Business Week told the success stories of companies that have embarked on collaboration strategies. Many law firms have their own tales of how a collaborative effort resulted in a significant win. Take a closer look at the real-world triumphs within your firm and you will start to see a pattern: sharing and collaboration produce results. Conversely, also track the benefits of your KM efforts. Make sure you publish and promote the successes. These will lead by example.

Stay focused. Trying to implement a firm-wide KM solution incorporating all of your practices and clients would be cost-prohibitive, overwhelming for users and doomed to fail. Instead, set clear priorities. These should be a combination of “must wins” and “quick wins.” To help manage costs, implement knowledge management in stages, beginning with individuals who are most interested and practice areas that have the most to gain.

Conclusion

Whatever you call it, law firms need an over-arching, disciplined and strategic plan to address client demands and excel at service in an increasingly competitive environment. While there are many reasons to implement KM initiatives involving internal operations – such as, managing risk, reducing lawyer stress levels, keeping critical knowledge from walking out the door, integrating new lawyers faster and more efficiently, better utilizing existing technologies, and doing more (work) with less (non-lawyer staff) ' I believe that the most compelling reasons to manage knowledge come from clients.