This presentation was delivered at LawTech Camp 2012 in Toronto, ON. It provides a high-level overview of knowledge management activities for law firms.

1. An Introduction to
Knowledge Management
for Law Firms
LawTech Camp 2012
May 12, 2012
Connie Crosby, Crosby Group Consulting
Stephanie Barnes, Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting

2. Connie Crosby
• Consultant in KM, IM, library
management and social media
• Law Librarian with MLS from
University of Toronto
• Information Management
certificate from U of T
• 10 years as Library Manager &
webmaster at prominent Toronto
law firm
• Instructor at iSchool Institute,
Faculty of Information, U of T
• Core contributor to Slaw.ca

3. Stephanie Barnes
• Accountant and IT Management
by education
• KM consultant by choice
• Chief Chaos Organizer at Missing
Puzzle Piece Consulting, Knoco
franchisee
• 4 yrs KM at HP
• 8+ yrs as consultant to a variety
of companies including BMO,
HSFO, Kodak, HP, Zenon
Environmental, OSC, CIBC, ENEC
• Based in Toronto

4. What is Knowledge Management?
Connecting people to the
knowledge they need to do their
jobs, whether that knowledge is
tacit (in people’s heads) or explicit
(documented).

5. Some Benefits of KM
• Better organization
Helping partners, associates and
assistants get their hands on the
right documents and information
when they are needed.

6. Some Benefits of KM
• Better organization
• Better use of knowledge assets
Make better use of internally developed
knowledge assets such as precedents,
letters, research memoranda, and filings.

7. Some Benefits of KM
• Better organization
• Better use of knowledge assets
• Knowledge sharing
Be prepared for a partner or associate
leaving the firm. Help lawyers share
what will be needed to continue the
firm’s business.

8. Some Benefits of KM
• Better organization
• Better use of knowledge assets
• Knowledge sharing
• Improved learning
Use “Lessons Learned” techniques
as you work; make assessments
and continually improve processes
for better client service.

9. Explicit Knowledge
(documented knowledge)
• Business plans
• Client lists
• Work product
(letters, factums,
agreements)
• Forms and
Precedents
• Meeting minutes
• Blogs/wikis

10. Tacit Knowledge
(knowledge in individuals’ heads)
• Social networks
• In-house training
• Mentoring
• Communities of
Practice / Practice
groups
• Matter summaries

11. Knowledge Flow
People to Knowledge Repository
•Sharing, e.g. •Knowledge artefact
Communities of creation, e.g.
Practice, mentoring, documentation,
expertise location lessons learned
People
Communicating Collecting
from
Accessing Organizing
Knowledge
•Learning, e.g. on- •Systematizing
Repository the-job training, concepts, e.g. meta-
lessons learned, peer data, taxonomies
assists, searching
Based on Nonaka and Takeuchi, “The Knowledge Creating Company,”
p62

12. Approach
People
Technology Process
© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 12

13. Change Management
(People)
• Communication Plan
• Training and Education Plan
• Stakeholder management
All three will need to be updated/evolved as the
program progresses
© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 13

14. Knowledge Management Technology
Organization/ Business Intelligence/ Data Warehouse
Enterprise
eDiscovery
Communities of
CRM, Contact Centre, Incident Practice,
Context
Management/Helpdesk Expertise
location
Group/team
Records Social
Management Media
ECM
Document Capture Component Content
Management
Portal
Collaboration
Individual
Search
Learning Management/eLearning
Scan, Capture, Package, Share, Transform,
Map Create Store Apply Innovate
Adapted from: Knowledge Managements by Despres and Chuvel,
Journal of KM, vol 3, no. 2 1999, p119.
© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 14

15. Knowledge Management Framework
Governance
Purpose, Vision, Goals,
Objectives
Oversight
Enabling Activities
Policies and Procedures
Change Management
Lifecycle Processes
Staffing Component Activities
Metadata and Technology
Taxonomies
Professional Documented Document Sharing and
Supporting Innovation
Development Knowledge Handling Collaboration
Version Control
Metrics and
Measurement
Privacy

16. Framework - Component Activities

17. Documented Knowledge
• Portal/Intranet
• Document Management
• E-mail Management
• Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

18. Documented Handling
• Document Assembly
• Component Content Management
• Records Management

19. Sharing and Collaboration
• Lessons Learned
• Communities of Practice / Practice groups
• Social Media
• Collaboration
• Expertise Location

20. Supporting
• IT Management
• Workflow
• Search

21. Innovation
• Idea Management
• Business Intelligence

22. Documented Knowledge
Lifecycle Process
•Collaboration
Storage •Distribution
Manage •Removing documents and
•Workflow •Collaboration related metadata from the
•Authentication/Approval •Location •Retrieval •Review active repository
•Filing •Re-use •Report •Stored in a separate area in
•taxonomy a future readable format
•metadata
•Access control
Create/Capture Use/Retrieve Archive/Delete

23. Knowledge Management Roadmap
Evolve
Use •Change
Mgmt
Implement •Change
Mgmt
Design/ •Change
Mgmt
Develop/ Test
Select •Processes
technology •Change •Metrics
Resolve: Mgmt
•Change
Analyze: •Policies Mgmt
•Knowledge &
Collect: •Human, process flows
Social, and
•Business •Metrics
Intellectual
Processes Capital Best •Strategic
•Information Practices Goals
Flows •Change •Governance
•Organization Mgmt •Change
Strategy and Mgmt
Plan
•IT Strategy
and Plan
•Change
Mgmt
© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 23

24. Case Study: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt
KM Technology KM Results, if known
Implementation
Portal Successful User acceptance of the platform because they were
involved at each step of the process and a technology was
selected that met their requirements.
Description:
Focused on choosing the right knowledge management technology platform, which included
gathering the right people to build, promote and champion the platform. The team had to be
familiar with the iterative nature of the implementation and most importantly they had to
support and believe in the vision for the new Intranet and be in a position to evangelize it to their
peers.
Since the launch of Oslernet, a number of these key groups were included on a steering
committee to continuously advise on the ongoing evaluation and evolution of the Intranet. The
Intranet team created a detailed Help Protocol to identify and redirect any issues that users were
having to the appropriate experts for quick resolution regardless of the channel through which
the request came. Substantive legal questions, for example, may come into the IS Service Desk
but are re-directed to the appropriate knowledge management lawyer.
© Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting, 2012 24

25. Case Study: Hicks Morley
KM Technology KM Results, if known
Implementation
Wiki-based Successful User acceptance of the platform because they ran a pilot
CMS with a simple wiki in a small early adopter group to gather
ThoughtFarmer requirements, and had a senior partner champion.
Description:
Under-utlized HTML-based intranet was replaced with a wiki-based content management system.
A pilot with some inexpensive wiki software with a small practice group produced good early
results and allowed for requirements gathering. ThoughtFarmer met the requirements. New
Intranet was launched firm-wide within 6 months from start of pilot to full implementation.
Since the launch of ThoughtFarmer, a social enterprise layer including profiles and tagging has
been implemented. Early success came in the form of a senior partner who, previously sceptical,
found immediate value in the new system and went on to promote use of the new platform
within the firm. Documents and content are being added by members of the firm from all levels.
The Knowledge Management team review content to ensure metadata is correctly in place. New
features are being added as more needs are being identified.
25

26. Learn more
Aligning People, Process and
Technology in Knowledge
Management
By Stephanie Barnes
Ark Group report, 2011
(coupon!)

27. Learn more
Knowledge Workers Toronto
1. - Methods:
http://toronto.methods.knowledgeworkers.org/
(next meeting: May 22nd!)
2. - Technology:
http://toronto.technology.knowledgeworkers.org/

28. Learn More
• Ted Tjaden - http://www.slaw.ca/author/tjaden/
• Heather Colman- http://www.llrx.com/authors/1155
• Patrick DiDomenico - http://lawyerkm.com/
• Mary Abraham - http://aboveandbeyondkm.com/
• Tom Baldwin - http://kmpipeline.blogspot.ca/
• David Hobbie - http://caselines.blogspot.ca/
• Nick Milton (Knoco) - http://www.nickmilton.com/
• ILTA KM - http://km.iltanet.org/
• 3 Geeks and a Law Blog -
http://www.geeklawblog.com/search/label/KM

29. Thank you
Law Firm KM
LawFirmKM.com
Connie Crosby
connie@lawfirmkm.com
416-919-6719
Stephanie Barnes
stephanie@lawfirmkm.com
416-522-5126