Help Needed for Toronto Lawyer Breaking into KM
An excited utterances subscriber has asked me to post a blog. Here it is:
I am a Toronto lawyer who is attempting to break into the KM field and I have found your blog/site an excellent resource [thanks!]. I have identified a number of mid-size firms (75-100 lawyers) in the Toronto area that have rudimentary KM and DM initiatives, and could benefit from a more comprehensive program. As you might expect, many of these firms like the idea of having a more complete KM system, but are not willing to devote the human or financial capital to implement one. I am working on a proposal for two firms in particular, and was wondering if there is anyone who could provide me with more specific advice in three areas:
(1) One of the firms in question has a tremendous number of paper files it wishes to convert into digital form. When I suggested it practice fundamental record retention and destruction principles while doing this (i.e., culling, return of client property, precedent extraction, etc.) it balked, due to the amount of perceived lawyer involvement. I could, with the aid of some of its administrative staff, go through its files overseeing its document conversion process.
Questions: Is there a better way to deal with this issue? Are there any KM or DM professionals out there who have drafted a plan or proposal I could review that addresses this problem?
(2) One of the firms wants to develop about 10 new precedents per year, per practice area. My feeling is that I need to work with at least one prominent lawyer within each of these practice areas.
Questions: Has anybody developed precedents in this way recently? What are some of the things I should be guarding against?
(3) Finally, what are the best and least expensive document assembly software programs? One of the firms I am speaking to wants such a program to dovetail onto Word.
You may post your answers/suggestions in the comments section of this blog (just click on "comments" link), or if your reply is too long for the comments field, you may email me, and I will forward to the excited utterances subscriber.
KM Team Expands at Two Birds
International law firm Bird&Bird has boosted its central knowledge management team with two new hires. Catherine Milton, a former Bird&Bird dispute resolution partner, has joined the team to work on client facing aspects of Bird&Bird's knowhow services. Catherine Flutsch, formerly a practicing lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and a member of Freshfields central knowledge management team, has joined to head up knowledge development operations and to focus on the provision of a full internal knowledge service to Bird&Bird lawyers. The two Catherines have joined Director of Knowledge Management, Andrew White, on the central knowledge management team.
Davies Arnold Cooper, an international law firm specializing in dispute resolution and property, has named Mark Collins, a former lawyer, as its first ever knowledge management partner. Collins practiced law with BT, and also worked in the IT departments of law firms. Collins states, "KM is a way to help lawyers be more profitable. "
