Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/12204
professionals because it links and interrelates different sets of information from different firm systems, typically pivoting on such common links as authors (users/ timekeepers), matter numbers and firm taxonomies for industry and type of legal work. It allows attorneys to search across collections of information ranging from document management systems to portals and perhaps also time and billing systems. Enterprise search is valuable for attorneys doing alternative fee work in several ways. It helps attorneys quickly locate precedent across document management systems, intranets and knowledge collections, saving time on research and drafting tasks. Relating time entries and billing experience to document authorship and official attorney biographies also allows for better expertise search than any other system identified to date. Expertise search is one way to find the right attorney to do a piece of work, an important aspect of managing costs. Knowledge workers assist with enterprise search by structuring it to leverage the most important metadata and delving into the most important information collections. They also employ taxonomy skills in setting up firm-imposed metadata such as legal service and document category. Enterprise search is most effective if firms already have well-thought-out and consistently applied taxonomies. Risks arise if matter numbers overlap, or if legal service codes or other key taxonomies are applied haphazardly and inconsistently. Work product search such as West km and Lexis Search Advantage also enables attorneys to find and leverage previous work. One advantage of these two tools is that they link into the massive online databases of these providers, allowing attorneys to see while reviewing samples if the cases and statutes 36 Knowledge Management ILTA White Paper in the work product are still valid and saving time by reducing cite-checking and case law dead ends. Attorneys can easily find other work product citing to particular cases or statutes and see how other attorneys have researched and treated that topic. The biggest challenge associated with work product search is obtaining adoption. PORTALS Knowledge management departments are often responsible for matter information systems and other aspects of intranets or portals. Sophisticated portals provide quick browsing access to timely information from multiple firm systems. The better law firm portals present information specific to the user. For example, a portal might show an attorney a list of matters she’s billed to in the last few months, and provide easy access to financial and billing information along with documents, pleadings, closing binders and so forth. Portals support AFAs indirectly and, in some firms, more directly. Indirectly, portals, such as the one described above, were not created with alternative fee arrangements in mind, but they do increase matter team members’ speed and efficiency by providing quick access to key information. The Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques’ “Mallesons Connect” portal system is a leading example of a portal that supports alternative fee arrangement by providing clients transparency into the what and how of law firm work. Mallesons Connect displays all sorts of matter-centric information to matter teams and, notably, to clients, starting with financial information, but also including project management status and firm-client communications. Another system designed to share information about project status is Seyfarth Shaw’s SeyfarthConnect,