Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/68817
that exists within documents and other work product, as well as research materials and reference sources. There is the implicit knowledge that exists within the minds and instincts of the attorneys and other professionals. If that is not complicated enough, adding the desire to harness this knowledge in a way that allows it to be managed and applied to future work significantly increases the degree of complexity. The concept of "knowledge management" (KM) has traveled a very long way since it first caught on in the legal industry. In its earliest incarnations, KM was defined by the systems and software applications aimed at capturing and serving up the organization's collective knowledge. The early days focused on collecting precedents and form files. Document assembly tools were soon loaded onto the bandwagon along with specialized document searching and tagging tools like West km and Lexis Search Advantage. KM also picked up intranets and extranets, as well as project management and workflow tools, somewhere along the way. More recently, enterprise search technologies and development platforms have been gaining more traction. As the concept took hold in many organizations, KM also became defined by the resources associated with it. Magic Circle firms in the U.K. dedicated nonbillable practice support lawyers (PSLs) to gather, catalog and manage the accumulated know-how of their lawyers. Some organizations assembled entire teams of professionals from a variety of backgrounds, including technologists, legal practitioners, project managers and ILTA White Paper 19