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Email overload remains one of lawyers' biggest challenges. Overflowing inboxes leave attorneys with a constant sense of guilt for not reading or responding to colleagues or, worse, clients. Then there's the web's content explosion — how are busy lawyers to find and read everything they need to serve their clients?
Their challenge translates into an opportunity for those of us who help lawyers meet client needs. We must find ways to help attorneys focus their limited time on the information that's critical now. At White & Case, we divided this problem in two: 1) internal firm information and 2) external news from outside the firm.
Internal Information
Effectively managing attention requires wrangling both external information (aka current awareness) and internal communication. Our firm's analysis concluded that an effective internal approach must include:
» Cultural etiquette: Firms must establish cultural standards that encourage efficient communications, and set expectations for reducing email-dependency by sending and replying to fewer emails. For example, a group of our associates recommended a firmwide email protocol. Even simple rules can help — such as when not to reply-to-all, or not responding with only "Thanks," and if you only need the subject line to communicate, complete the message with <end> so the recipient knows she doesn't have to open the email.
» Alternatives to email: Promote the use of collaborative communication tools in lieu of traditional messaging channels, including discussion boards, wikis, and other alternatives to email that help users control participation and frequency of alerts. And don't forget the most social of media — phone calls and face-to-face meetings.
» Technology tools: With email, use rules and alerts to manage growing inboxes. See bit.ly/UsingOutlook for recommendations on how to "Communicate Professionally with Outlook." And watch for an exciting new development — the emergence of "predictive filing" where, like predictive coding in e-discovery, email systems will deduce filing patterns to help users with email records retention protocols.
External Information
While internal emails usually focus on task management, external emails keep us up to date with legal and business developments. Recognizing the daily need "to boil the ocean" of external information, White & Case sought a new way to offer our lawyers the ability to set automatic notifications (alerts) on the developments that are most relevant for their practices and clients.
We wanted to give them the opportunity and ability to control what they read and when they receive it. Our goal is to implement technology that intelligently routes information — that is, a system that gathers data from multiple channels, recognizes the intrinsic value of each item, and brings it to the attention of the right lawyer with the right level of urgency. Such a system requires the following:
» Access: Our first goal is to simplify access to relevant information. As information access becomes commoditized, easier to navigate, and relatively inexpensive, the challenge is no longer to find information but to determine what information is relevant and who are the trusted sources.
Our intention is to augment free resources with licenses to fee-based content providers by monitoring a variety of resource types: RSS feeds, web scrapes , email alerts, paid content, free content — across news, commentary, cases, legislation, journals and more.
Our librarians identify valuable information sources and guide our lawyers and other professionals about which sources are most relevant and cost-effective.
» Focus: Even after narrowing content flow to only high-value sources, we will still have too much information. We hope to reduce the information pile to the most meaningful data through search and editorial filters:
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