Beyond knowledge management to better management
Is KM a real force multiplier in your firm? That's the challenging question I recently put to 40 senior law firm knowledge management professionals. This led to an interesting hour of honest conversation that was so worthwhile that I'm recounting its highlights here in the hope that my readers might try this exercise in their own organizations.... Continue Reading →
The day after Steve Jobs died, a knowledge management colleague at another law firm asked why a man who had such a profound influence on technology had seemingly little influence on legal knowledge management. That stopped conversation for a moment. Tongue firmly in cheek, I countered with the proposition that if Steve Jobs had turned his... Continue Reading →
The Florida Supreme Court wants lawyers to behave nicely with respect to their opponents. Here's how the court's recent action is described in a press release by the American Board of Trial Advocates: Commenting that `concerns have grown about acts of incivility among members of the legal profession,' the high court noted ABOTA's efforts to stress... Continue Reading →
Is it true that there's nothing new under the sun? Given my fondness for innovation, I always find myself hoping there are at least a few exceptions to the rule. In this spirit, I went to several knowledge management sessions at the recent International Legal Technology Association Conference looking for something new in KM. I'm... Continue Reading →
Is your firm or law department still counting its pennies? Or is your firm or company so optimistic about its prospects that you've been given a large budget to spend freely on knowledge and information management projects? The headlines in the legal technology press often feature impressive, state of the art, large-budget projects. However, what... Continue Reading →
For the last few Sunday nights, my family has been completely absorbed by the upstairs downstairs drama of Downton Abbey. This English import provides a glimpse of life in an aristocratic home just before the First World War. One very poignant moment occurs early in the series when a man trained to be a gentleman's... Continue Reading →
What's the future of the legal profession? And what role do technology and knowledge management play in the development of that future? These are the questions I've been pondering since I heard that Stephen P. Younger (President of the New York State Bar Association) had formed a Task Force to seize "an historic opportunity to... Continue Reading →
Some advice to the lovelorn I read many years ago suggested that the best way for a young woman to reel in a young man was to ask him lots of questions about his favorite topic -- himself. From the vantage point of the 21st century, there are any number of objections one might raise... Continue Reading →
Back in the 1960s, the world was introduced to Stanley Lambchop. As you may remember, an unfortunate meeting between Stanley and a bulletin board rendered poor Stanley flat as a pancake. As a result, he became known worldwide as Flat Stanley. The books Jeff Brown wrote about Flat Stanley provide detail on what it might... Continue Reading →
Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession is the subject of the Ark Group's conference I'm attending in New York City. Here are my notes. Tom Baldwin (CKO, Reed Smith), Ali Shahidi (Director of KM, Bingham McCutchen), Meredith Williams (Director of KM, Baker Donelson) spoke about where business intelligence, competitive intelligence and knowledge management intersect in... Continue Reading →
Above and Beyond KM 