publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/306297
growth and consolidation of firms doesn't help. More lawyers spread across more offices in more locations makes it difficult, if not impossible, to stay on top of who's who within the firm. Knowledge management and enterprise tools can help decipher experience from a search perspective. By crawling a firm's content library, these tools scan all documents, bios, titles and descriptions of all matters and projects — including time notes — and return a list of people that fit given criteria. However, these tools are not perfect and often produce false positives and negatives. Their greatest limitation is that they don't work well with laterals; when laterals come aboard, there isn't enough suitable content history in the system to perform a relevant search of their experience. Over the years, Reed Smith developed a manual process to aggregate the various pieces to that overall puzzle, but to limited success. New enterprise collaboration tools might hold the key to that deep dive into a lawyer's background, interests and affiliations by providing collective knowledge and real-time feedback on employee skills. In fact, they can fill the gaps left by more traditional knowledge management tools. They facilitate the sharing of information, and rapport develops inside an organization or among members of a team. They also offer many features to foster dialogue around a variety of topics. But these platforms are not legal- specific, and they do not routinely capture the kind of attributes necessary to address a firm's needs. "While firms can derive value from an enterprise social networking application using commonly understood benefits of open collaboration, we must also proactively identify and utilize our lawyers' skills and experience," said David Pulice, Manager of Practice Innovation at Reed Smith. "The best way to do this is through a rich profile built specifically for the legal industry that allows our lawyers to declare their skills." Recognizing the tremendous potential for discovery and knowledge management purposes, Reed Smith built a solution that combines the personal information and skills features available in its enterprise collaboration platform with the firm directories. Anything and everything about an individual attorney is now immediately available, and that has enabled the firm to make more effective assignments. With extensive profile capabilities as the backbone, Reed Smith is tapping into a deeper level of personnel knowledge. The firm's on-premises firm directory provides greater control over the wealth of skills and knowledge in the global organization. But it's the non-traditional areas the directory taps into that has proven particularly helpful — which judges a lawyer has clerked for, committee and club memberships, non-profit and board affiliations, and other personal attributes and interests that set one attorney apart from everyone else in the firm. These nuggets of information enable the firm to identify the best person to help win business. Through self- declaration, the firm's attorneys are providing this deep level of valuable information. During the onboarding process and throughout their careers at the firm, lawyers are proactively trained and prompted to complete and freshen their profiles with everything and anything that could contribute to the firm's success. This includes external interests and passions, charity and club affiliations, and hobbies. In addition, the system provides matter profiling for a leader board that allows management to recognize and extend kudos to deserving employees. "Having this level of detail provides a valuable method for cross-selling. We can connect the dots from our attorneys to potential clients with affinities for the same organizations and interests," added Egan. "We now have the ability to turn 'people connections' into business opportunities." SPEAKING THE SAME LANGUAGE When developing a useful firm directory, you need an agreed-upon taxonomy that will help lawyers represent their skills adequately and consistently. Reed Smith's solution provides this and allows for further customization to meet specific needs. For example, ILTA WHITE PAPER: APRIL 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 35 YOUR FIRM'S GOT TALENT (NOW CAPITALIZE ON IT) More lawyers spread across more offices in more locations makes it difficult, if not impossible, to stay on top of who's who within the firm.