Peer to Peer Magazine

30 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | SUMMER 2017 CASE STUDIES The Next Step Forward in Intranets Recently, a debate has arisen in the legal industry on the intranet's continuing relevance. It has been accused of being glorified "brochure-ware" — boilerplate information that can just as well be delivered on paper. Some law firm intranets offer a portal to research libraries, but even they seem stuck in the past. Several years ago, the intranet's potential as a social media tool generated much interest. Tools such as Microso's Yammer, a kind of Facebook for the workspace, were being considered for embedding or even supplanting the intranet. The intranet as a social media tool, however, never took off, and not just among law firms. Corporations, which have gone further in implementing "enterprise social networks," have found that they remain largely unused, rendering their investments in them pointless. In Corporate Counsel, Kathryn DeBord, Partner and Chief Innovation Officer at Bryan Cave LLP, wrote about the demand for an intranet driven by knowledge management that would serve modern law firms: "Knowledge management no longer can mean simply an expertise retrieval database and an intranet with law firm news on it. Rather, knowledge management must connect the diverse but interconnected lawyers, resources, and entities within a law firm in ways that will give lawyers real-time, end-to-end, serendipitous visibility into expertise, work product, data and new ideas." If the law firm intranet is to survive, it must transform into an effective, dynamic tool that helps aorneys with their daily work and connects dispersed workforces. Nossaman LLP, a midsize law firm based in Los Angeles, set out to implement this vision. Strategizing the Connection Nossaman recently completed a comprehensive remodeling of its intranet, and its forward-looking redesign may be a clue to where the intranet is headed. Aorneys and staff found the previous iteration of the firm's intranet useful, but there was untapped potential. Their ambitious plan was to transform the internal web page into a dynamic tool to help the The law firm intranet is overdue for an upgrade. This internal website has traditionally served as a place to house basic information for employees: phone numbers, human resources policies and other guidelines and references. It is static and boring, and usage wanes sharply after new hire orientation. by Nina Lukina The Next Step Forward in Intranets

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