Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | K N O W L E D G E M A N A G E M E N T 19 F U T U R E O F K N O W L E D G E M A N A G E M E N T : F R O M T H E P E R S P E C T I V E O F T H E N E X T G E N E R A T I O N O F I N D U S T R Y L E A D E R S W H A T D O Y O U T H I N K T H E K N O W L E D G E M A N A G E M E N T F U N C T I O N O F A L A W F I R M W I L L L O O K L I K E ? Martha Breil: Knowledge Management (KM) will still be a niche function and probably only staffed with one or more full-time equivalents in the top 50 of the Am Law 100 firms. The majority of work being done in the interest of advancing KM objectives will be delivered through matrixed resources. This integrated approach to solution delivery will be even more critical to successful KM product, processes, and solution delivery than it is today. Successful KM teams will have developed strong cross-functional relationships with groups like docketing, business development, IT, competitive intelligence, and data analytics to identify the appropriate source systems for unstructured data whether it's a court, judge, case outcome, client- responsible attorney … so we reuse as much as possible and reduce, slowly but surely, the silos of unstructured data we have today. The newer KM technolo solutions make this integration technically achievable. It's up to the KM professional to partner cross functionally to break down the silos so these systems access the right data and it is kept current. The most underutilized data in most firms today seems to be our own knowledge about our own work and the actual work products themselves. This needs to change if we are to really leverage the power of tools like Tableau, MB Power BI, and enterprise search. You cannot recognize patterns in data that is not discoverable. Kate Cain: KM will continue to evolve along two lines, like two branches from the same family tree. One branch will focus on practice- and task- specific technologies—natural language processing applied to discovery and diligence efforts or document automation to execute and manage contracts, and so on. These ideas are not new, but the market a moving target with technologies applied in new ways to address challenges in legal service delivery. The second branch is where I see a fundamental shift in how we think of knowledge management as a support function. That is, a shift from merely managing collections of information toward actually leading strate development by drawing insights from those collections. This shift has been slowly happening for years—remember when we spent hours discussing precedent and form files and their taxonomies? The shift is accelerating now with the advent of data warehouses and lakes, enterprise search, artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing, data analytics and visualization and other tools that make virtual mountains of data both accessible and understandable. Connecting data silos such as billing, conflicts, new business, docket, marketing, research resources and personnel systems provides the context necessary to draw meaningful conclusions and, in many ways, to predict the future. KC Alicia Ryan: Mature Knowledge Management functions will be split (formally or informally) between (1) traditional KM functions which will continue to be attorney-facing and subject to mostly incremental innovation; (2) client-facing functions which will involve innovations in technolo, business processes and service offerings, and (3) perhaps also an innovation management function tasked with harvesting, vetting, resourcing, scheduling, and managing innovation projects within firms. Evan Shenkman: I anticipate increased integration of various KM solutions into one main KM workflow, so a firm's attorneys need not remember which KM offerings can help. Rather, once a matter is opened, an automated process will generate key reports (on the client, venue, judge, and opposing counsel) from internal and external research sources; prepare initial draft pleadings and discovery; identify firm subject matter experts; locate guidance on the claims; and generate a collaboration portal for the attorney team and the client (complete with client preferences, and information about the client's business and industry, helping educate the attorney team). All of these elements are presently available as standalone KM services in 2019, but lack a coordinated, automated workflow. I expect that to be a reality in five years. AR ES

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