publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/550988
ILTA WHITE PAPER: JULY 2015 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 23 SUCCESSFULLY INTRODUCE NEW PRACTICES AND TECHNOLOGY AUDIT KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION Once a problem or issue is identified, conduct a knowledge or information audit to dig further into needs. Choose from several methods, such as: • Interviewing individuals (particularly effective with senior lawyers, senior executive, directors and managers) • Holding small focus groups with staff, law students or junior associates • Distributing a survey judiciously to confirm findings from other methods • Shadowing administrative personnel while they work • Convening workshops to map out procedures (existing and then potentially streamlined) • Completing an inventory of information and knowledge sources in the firm, including those on shared drives, departmental databases, individual computers and paper sources (such as files and binders) • Reviewing usage statistics from existing software tools, if available Once this data is analyzed, a list of specific needs (including procedural and technical) can be created. During this process, additional goals for the project might be uncovered (e.g., risk factors that must be minimized). At this point, knowledge managers can investigate solutions, either through research or sending a request for proposal to potential vendors. PILOT POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS Before launching a solution firmwide, pilot potential solutions with smaller groups, such as a selected practice area or department. When Library Services Manager Susan Crysler first joined law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell in 2012, she saw that lawyers were inundated with email and that current awareness updates from the library and other sources contributed to the problem. She and others on the KM team listened to the lawyers' needs and determined that a current awareness software service would be the right solution, but which technology should they choose? By late 2012, they had narrowed the list down to five packages. From there, they decided which one best suited their needs. Similarly, in 2007, KM specialist Heather Colman (then with employment law firm Hicks Morley LLP) suggested to her firm that a wiki might make the best platform for replacing the firm's dated HTML- based intranet, which was little used and did nothing to help reduce information overload. According to Colman's 2009 LLRX.com articles on the topic, to prove the concept, the firm piloted the free DominoWiki software, based on IBM's Lotus Notes, which the firm was using at the time. A scaled-down version of a wiki-based intranet was piloted with the firm's litigation practice group and law students. With the concept proven, a more refined list of requirements for the wiki platform was crafted, and the firm set out to select the final software. As noted in Gerry Blackwell's article, "Wiki Me This," that appeared in the May 2008 Canadian Lawyer, a six- Imagine everything going awry during a major IT launch. How difficult would it be to convince change-averse lawyers to believe future technology projects will succeed?