What is Legal Knowledge Management?

It is commonly said that law firms ‘sell’ knowledge. Clients purchase advice, arguments, strategies, and guidance; the distillation of years of experience, legal expertise, and specialist knowledge. 

Yet, clients generally pay for time: a lawyer’s time, billed in increments. To produce actionable advice, manage contracts and create high-quality, consistent documents (such as policies), firms spend a significant amount of time trying to find the knowledge required to provide what clients need, whether that is a recommendation, or a resource.

Staff may comb through previous work products, browse external knowledge stores, scour practice notes, and analyse playbooks and checklists. They may check in with colleagues for advice, asking senior leaders for best practices, and review the firm’s experiences with similar cases or matters. Teams may discuss knowledge work with clients themselves, understanding both context and the challenge itself. Overall, finding and reviewing the knowledge needed to provide legal services takes a lot of time and effort.

Here knowledge management aims to address these challenges. But what is knowledge management, anyway?

Knowledge Work as a Workshop - and The Legal Knowledge Toolbox

Imagine a law firm as a workshop. Lawyers and specialists fix things for those who come into the workshop. Sometimes just a few screws need tightening up. Sometimes things will need to be made from scratch. Sometimes things need to be refreshed, or reworked entirely, to make them fit for purpose.

Like any craftsperson, lawyers need tools for their work. Some tools can help with many different projects. Yet often tools are specialised; useful in some cases, but not relevant for others. Many workshops will have examples of both types of tools, so it can help many people who come into the workshop. 

Curating Knowledge (Organising and Labelling Your Tools)

Imagine if these tools, or resources, were scattered: some hidden in boxes in different rooms, others left on the side or tucked away. Would it be hard to find the right tool for the job? 

But what if all the tools were stored in one place, neatly organised in trays, so everyone in the workshop knew where to look for what they needed? If each box was labelled, you wouldn’t waste time looking in multiple places, and you could be confident that what you found was the right tool for the job.

Better yet – imagine if every tool was stored with its instruction manual, so you knew what it was, and how to use it. How much time would it save? 

For law firms, the process of securing, curating and enriching knowledge follows this same process. Firms categorise resources, and add metadata, tags and contextual information accordingly, so that resources are not only easy to find – but they can be quickly actioned when found, too.

Using Knowledge (Object to Action)

Let’s continue the analogy. What if every time a client walked into the workshop, you could explain what you already have to help them with their challenge, and how you’ve helped others, too? What if you could easily show what tools you could use, how you’ve used them before, and who your experts are with the particular issue? Customers would quickly put their faith in you – and they will likely be able to make faster decisions, too.

Moreover, what if you could use your understanding of what you have to predict how you would complete the task, and how long it might take? What if you could do that, but the other workshops around you couldn’t? 

Herein lies the value of knowledge management for winning new business. Beyond everyday time savings and efficiency gains, some of the savviest Knowledge Management teams are using the firm’s collective expertise (and their unique understanding of it) to craft high-impact bids that put the firm’s experience, skillset and knowledge front and centre, driving a real competitive edge.

Conclusion

With knowledge easier to find, action and share, lawyers can focus on delivering value, not searching for what they need to do their best work. With the right knowledge management foundations in place, time spent finding knowledge is reduced, as what lawyers need is there, waiting to be used, in a structured, accessible location. 

With a centralised, trusted source of truth, lawyers can trust that what they find is useful, up to date and approved for use, minimising time spent validating resources. 

And with clients able to benefit from curated knowledge and high-impact results, it is no surprise that knowledge management is such a core focus for firms today.

Rob Taylor

Product Manager

Tiger Eye