Knowledge management is often confused with information management. Law firms need to recognise the importance of harnessing ‘knowledge’ in itself, as opposed to simply managing information using software, writes Bill Fraser
What knowledge management (KM) means varies according to the context. But the basic claim of KM is that you can get tangible business benefits if you adopt an explicit ‘knowledge perspective’ on what you do and then introduce systematic improvements based on this perspective.
For a law firm, KM is to do with developing or improving capabilities for making better use of the firm’s expertise, and for increasing that expertise. It is about doing better some of those things that you should be doing already: whether it be bringing new appointees up to speed faster, capturing and reusing expertise, identifying lessons learned, speeding up the service or providing new computer-based services directly to clients.
There are particular challenges for law firms. For example, one common theme in KM is about capturing and reusing best practices. But anything that encourages lawyers to stop thinking is surely undesirable, and reusing someone else’s material is not much fun for highly intelligent and independently-minded professionals. Furthermore, any knowledge that can be captured comprehensively is an obvious candidate for delivery to clients as a low-cost online service rather than via a traditional face- to-face consultation charged by the hour.
Nevertheless, successful KM offers the potential for significant business benefit: higher and more secure revenues, lower internal costs, accelerated professional development and fewer hassles for staff. If you are in a sellers’ market with little pressure on fees you may not need to bother with KM, but if you are under competitive pressures, or are likely to be in the future, then you should think seriously about KM and how it could help you.
