Beyond knowledge management to better management
In the midst of a lively, thoughtful discussion, one of my friends and colleagues asked for a moment's silence to take note of the fact that Mary Abraham had just endorsed automation over human action. This led to gales of laughter. Why? Because over the years I've become reasonably well-known in legal knowledge management circles... Continue Reading →
What are the key factors that lead to a successful long-term relationship between corporate clients and their outside counsel? LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell (in association with The Global Legal Post) have just released a report of a 2012 survey of in-house counsel in Western Europe that seeks to answer that question. The report examines the following issues: Selection... Continue Reading →
What dataset informs your mindset? That's the question that Dr. Hans Rosling would ask you if he could. When he probed this issue with his university students in Sweden, he discovered that some of their views in the 21st century were based on a dataset that reflected the reality of ... the 1950s. In fact,... Continue Reading →
Lawyers have many special gifts, but one of the most vexing is the ability to "issue spot." They are trained to take a proposition in both hands and then turn it upside down and inside out until they have identified all the potential problems. This is hugely helpful to a client who is trying to... Continue Reading →
For the average worker, it might seem like a dream come true. However, I suspect that some information technology folks consider it a nightmare. What's the issue? The advent of the consumerization of IT; something Scott Finnie calls "CoIT." Dion Hinchcliffe describes the elements of CoIT in the following way: 1) businesses taking more local... Continue Reading →
For fourteen centuries she had information that everyone wanted. So they traveled from all over the ancient world to seek her guidance. And they paid lots of money for the privilege. Who was she? Pythia, the priestess of Apollo and the oracle of Delphi. Thomas Sakoulas describes how she worked: Plutarch served as a priest... Continue Reading →
The Financial Times recently published an interesting report entitled, US Innovative Lawyers 2011. I encourage you to read that report in its entirety soon. In the meantime, here are some highlights and observations. According to the report, FT's researchers received 272 submissions (including from 53 AmLaw 200 firms) and interviewed more than 300 lawyers and... Continue Reading →
If Lisa J. Damon has a bridge to sell, I'm buying it. And, it's not because I'm all that gullible. However, over the course of one hour she changed me from an admitted Lean Six Sigma skeptic into a person willing to consider the possibilities of that approach for every law firm. I had previously... Continue Reading →
The history of medicine is filled with all sorts of interesting lessons for lawyers and law firms. Consider the science of blood transfusions. According to the Wikipedia article on blood transfusions, the first recorded transfusion allegedly occurred in 1492 when an innovative (or perhaps desperate) physician suggesting reviving a comatose Pope Innocent VIII by giving... Continue Reading →
What's the purpose of your organization? (No, that's not a trick question.) Deb Lavoy and her colleagues at OpenText believe that answering that question is the first critical step every organization must take. Putting their money where their mouth is, OpenText hosted on July 11 the first of what promises to be a thought-provoking series of... Continue Reading →
Above and Beyond KM 