The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/163881
Find the Grooviest Expertise While social media tools have made users more comfortable with sharing information about themselves, it has not consolidated those biographical details into a single location. Typically, people don't spend substantial time updating their profiles, and information about them and their expertise is split across many systems. This disaggregation limits the ability of organizations to maximize their talent in response to an immediate need. By harnessing the details in billing records, document authorship, role (such as matter-responsible partner), support on major cases and performance reviews (among other details) into a complete composite of each individual in the organization, one can accelerate a search for expertise by creating and surfacing a unified profile. This speeds many activities, such as staffing a team for a new matter, finding the right person to answer a question and improving business development. By developing a familiarity with historical work — including coding decisions prior to evaluating a document's value — and the profitability of similar matters, professionals can enhance their competitive position in a fixed-fee environment. Knowledge Strategy: Develop a cohesive system of finding expertise in order to select the most talented people to address issues that are best suited to their skill sets. The key to finding such experts is in their "implicit information" — including activities, content and contacts — rather than what's solely in their profile. This gives a complete panorama of his or her background, providing a more comprehensive perspective. Enriching each individual's profile is also a good general practice. Billing records and associated matters, for example, help reinforce an individual's background. Sometimes the most essential skills are not apparent from a basic firm bio or resume. They are only visible from a search of one's full content portfolio. Peer to Peer 9