Digital White Papers

KM PROFESSIONALS: A NATURAL FIT FOR LPM Who owns, drives or is primarily responsible for LPM? Let's get to the good stuff! If you think back 10 years or so, you'll remember there were many different KM structures. And while not every firm is the same in this regard, even today it is not unusual to find KM in different departments. Most often, it's either its own group or is housed within IT, but it can also be found within the library or within marketing. LPM seems to be in this same state, as it's impacted by multiple disciplines. Everyone is trying to figure out who should own it. Responses were varied, but frequently it seems to be run by a multifunction team and is often headed by a partner. Summarized responses are below (a few outliers, such as the finance department and paralegals, have been excluded). LED BY GROUP LED BY SPECIFIC PERSON Attorneys, business analysts and management COO (with support from KM, PMO and director of strategic process innovation) A multidisciplinary team headed by a partner and supported by senior management COO (with support from IT department) A partner with strong support from the firm chair and the directors of practice support/management and information services Director of LPM An AFA committee LPM manager KM, client development, finance/accounting and a small group of partners Firm-level project manager (reporting to a steering committee) An LPM team, including a director, with heavy support from a litigation and a transactional partner, reporting to the executive committee Director of PM (with support from KM, marketing and finance) Strategic pricing, KM, and practice and project management KM (with support from pricing team) Steering committee Knowledge management Executive director and managing partner Director of practice support Responses included: •Our business analysts work closely with attorneys and legal teams with budgeting, pricing and project management. •We have pricing specialists and a project manager. Our director of accounting also spends a significant amount of time supporting LPM. Director of (litigation) KM Technology committee partner, finance, professional development and IT What LPM supporting roles or positions does your firm have? •We use a multidisciplinary approach that includes pricing analysts, project managers, IT and other areas of expertise. •Our director of practice group management and director of information services spend considerable time on both LPM and KM activities. We also employ pricing specialists and other LPM support. •Our firm has two non-lawyers providing handson support, as well as one finance/accounting person who provides pricing support. •We have a single AFA/pricing person who is also the manager of finance.

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