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Ted Tjaden
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Knowledge Management
Knowledge
management (KM) is an important aspect of law
practice. The
Wikipedia entry describes KM as "process of
creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge
and information of an organization" and "refers to a
multi-disciplined approach to achieving organisational
objectives by making the best use of knowledge."
One common way to think about managing knowledge is
categorizing it into two basic types: explicit
knowledge (information that is written down) and
tacit knowledge (hidden personal learning).
In a law firm
setting, explicit knowledge tends to be
precedent or sample business agreements or litigation
pleadings, checklists, research memos, opinion
letters, and "how to" guides. Equally – if not more
important – is the tacit knowledge, being
what legal professionals know, their experience and
their professional judgment. Capturing and organizing
explicit legal knowledge can be relatively
straightforward and involves a combination of
technologies (internal document management systems,
search and tagging technology, and intranets).
Capturing and organizing tacit legal knowledge can be
more challenging. In most law firms, tacit knowledge
is transferred through mentoring, training and
encouraging a knowledge-sharing culture to flourish
within the organization.
Depending on the
law firm, legal knowledge management can potentially
involve a wide array of activities, including:
- Document management
- Records management
- Precedent development
- Legal research
- Business or competitive
intelligence
- Continuing legal education
and professional development
- Intranet deployment
- e-Discovery support
- Project management
- Client support (virtual deal
rooms)
- Document automation and the
creation of smart systems for clients
- Abbott, Stephanie, ed. Legal
Knowledge Management: Insights and Practice.
Ark Group, 2013.
- Apistola, Martin, ed. Practical
Strategies for Effective Law Firm Knowledge
Management. Boca Raton:
Universal-Publishers, 2012 (book details here).
- Apistola, Martin & Petter
Gottschalk. Essential Knowledge and Management
Issues in Law Firms. Boca Raton:
Universal-Publishers, 2012 (book details here).
- Battersby, Karen. Know
How in the Legal Profession. Edited by
Caroline Poynton. London: Ark Group, 2006 (book
details
here).
- Boake, Barbara & Rick
Kathuria. Project Management for Lawyers.
London: Ark Group, 2011 (book details here).
- Gawande, Atul. The
Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.
New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010 (book details
here).
- Gottschalk, Petter. Knowledge
Management Maturity in Law Firm Business.
Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2012 (book
details here).
- Hassett, Jim, ed. The
Legal Project Management Quick Reference Guide.
3d ed. Boston, MA: LegalBizDev, 2013 (book details
here) (my SLAW book review on an earlier
edition is here).
- Lamb, Patrick. Alternative
Fee Arrangements: Value Fees and the Changing
Market. London, UK: Ark Group, 2010 (book
details here).
- Levy, Stephen. Legal
Project Management: Control Costs, Meet
Schedules, Risks, and Maintain Sanity.
Seattle, WA: DayPack Books, 2009 (book details
here).
- Levy, Stephen. Legal
Project Management Field Guide: Five Tools for
Busy Professionals. Seattle, WA: DayPack
Books, 2014 (book details here).
- Parsons, Matthew. Effective
Knowledge Management for Law Firms. Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press, 2004 (book details
here).
- Raridon Lambreth, Susan &
Michael Walker. Project Management for
Lawyers, [annual]. New York, NY: Practising
Law Institute, 2017 (details here).
- Rusanow, Gretta. Knowledge
Management and the Smarter Lawyer. New York:
ALM Publishing, 2003 (details here).
- Susskind, Richard. The
End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal
Services. London: Oxford University Press,
2008 (details here).
- Susskind, Richard. Tomorrow's
Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future. London:
Oxford University Press, 2013 (details here).
- Weinberger, David. Everything
is Miscellaneous. New York: Holt, 2008 (book
details here).
Selected recent articles
(most recent first)
- Catherine Filstad &
Petter Gottschalk. "Chapter 4: Knowledge
Management in Law Firms" in Anders Örtenblad, ed,
Handbook of Research on Knowledge Management:
Adaptation and Context (Cheltenham, UK:
Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) (book details here).
- Wendy Small, "Essential or
'Nice to Have'? The Impact of the Financial
Downturn on KM in Law Firms" (2009) 9:4 Legal
Information Management 287.
- Petter Gottschalk & Jan
Terje Karlsen, "Knowledge Management in Law Firm
Business" (2009) 16:3 Journal of Small Business
and Enterprise Development 432.
Selected conferences papers by
me on knowledge management
There are also a number of good
blogs relating to legal knowledge management:
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Legal
Research and Writing:
4th Edition
by
Ted Tjaden
Softcover 512
pgs.
Published: January 2016
ISBNs:
Paperback: 978-1-55221-414-5
e-book: 978-1-55221-415-2
Purchase
here
_________________
Irwin Law:
Canadian Online Legal Dictionary (click here)
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