Developing your KM systems: the role of the PSL

Professional support lawyers have been involved in creating legal intranets and extranets for several years, the benefits of which are undisputed. Asking one of your PSLs to manage a KM project, while continuing in their professional-support role, however, is another matter. Mills & Reeve took this step in 2001. Miranda Whiteley, the PSL in question, and Duncan Ogilvy, the KM partner and project champion, describe what happened next and give their views on the wisdom or otherwise of pursuing such a course.

The PSL’s perspective When Duncan Ogilvy, line manager of the PSLs and library and information services and, at that time, also managing partner of Mills & Reeve, asked me to manage the project to develop the firm’s intranet, I was taken aback to say the least. My job description as the firm’s litigation and insurance PSL, although unfeasibly broad, made no reference to project management or developing the firm’s IT systems.

At the time, I had been in the role for two years, after leaving my ten-year practice as a commercial barrister in London for a rewarding and (so I thought) quieter life working four days a week in Cambridge. Introducing the firm’s 80 or so litigators to the new Civil Procedure Rules in 1999 and creating a new bank of litigation precedents had been a baptism of fire. This was followed by an intense period in 2000 getting to grips with the implications of the Human Rights Act. The project-management suggestion was well timed, coming as it did at the end of 2000 when there were no new major legal developments for the litigation or insurance teams looming on the horizon.

The project

Initially daunted by the prospect, I began to realise that it could be rewarding to play a central part in creating the firm’s legal knowledge-management system. The first step was to set up the project team and to begin to identify potential systems providers. The core team was small and extremely effective: our head of library and information services, the PSLs’ IT-literate assistant and one of our main IT team’s systems developers. Duncan as project champion and our head of information systems were involved as necessary.

We rapidly became sure that Granite & Comfrey (G&C) offered what we were looking for. Its newly launched content-management system would operate happily with our existing IT systems and offered a sophisticated legal-research function. G&C would also, for a fee, process the documents for the system by adding keywords, bookmarks and hyperlinks, a job we were happy to outsource. Crucially, G&C’s managing director Derek Sturdy understood precisely what our PSLs, library staff and lawyers wanted and the job of customising the system that became FELIX (Fee Earner Legal Information eXchange) was mutually rewarding for both us and G&C.

Broadening the scope of the project

After a summer of intense discussion and customisation work on the G&C prototype, we launched a pilot of FELIX in Duncan’s property team in November 2001. At this stage, it became clear that it was illogical to press ahead with the creation of a legal KM system without developing a new intranet to manage our firm and client information. The scope of the project was widened to include KM in the widest sense, with the development of the rest of the intranet to proceed in tandem with the roll-out of FELIX. The board approved the full roll-out of FELIX in March 2002.

At this point, FELIX was taking up two of my four working days and looked set to continue to do so. Duncan and I visited every team in the firm in our four offices (there are more than thirty teams) to talk to them initially about FELIX and its implications for their team and subsequently to demonstrate the system to them. At the same time, I was working on updating the litigation and insurance documents that we wished to transfer from our existing systems to FELIX. On top of all this, there were high-level negotiations over the FELIX black-cat logo. Hours were spent discussing the pros and cons of the swishing tail and whether or not to have an escaping mouse (subsequently named De Minimouse in a firm competition). We eventually opted for both but ditched the paw prints.

Redefining the management role

While enjoying the success of FELIX and discovering about teams of lawyers I had not encountered before, I was coming to realise that the prospect of continuing indefinitely in a project-management role was not what I wanted. My clients – the litigators and insurance practitioners – were patient about my inability to do more than keep them up-to-date, but I was concerned about my inability to carry out my PSL role fully. As my line manager, Duncan appreciated the pressure I was under and agreed that I should cease to manage the KM project once FELIX had been rolled out to the litigation and insurance teams. This was accomplished by the end of the summer and from then on, I retained responsibility for the continuing development and management of FELIX, but maintained only a consultancy role in relation to the rest of the KM project.

Preliminary considerations

There are of course obvious advantages and disadvantages in asking one of your PSLs to manage a KM project of any kind. Before looking at some examples, it is necessary to list some of the preliminary considerations that should inform such a decision. Only if you can answer these positively should you think about taking such a step.

Does the PSL in question have the necessary skills and attributes to manage the project? The skills and attributes in question are those that PSLs well-suited to their role will have in any event. They include good communication, organisational and leadership skills, enthusiasm, self-motivation, tenacity, pragmatism, and a genuine interest in the firm (as against their practice area) and IT systems as a means of sharing knowledge. Resilience is essential;
Is the role compatible with the needs of the PSL’s practice area? The answer to this question will be greatly affected by whether the PSL is going to continue to attempt to perform the PSL role while managing the project, or whether the PSL role is going to be covered by somebody else or left on hold. It is essential to look ahead to see what needs the practice area will have in the next two years or more, as all projects of this kind have a tendency to acquire a life of their own. For example, it would have been disastrous (or pointless) to have asked a property lawyer to take on this role in 2002 or 2003 with the Land Registration Act already in view. The property lawyers would have needed as much attention as possible and no self-respecting PSL would have wanted to have their attention elsewhere at this critical time. If the PSL’s line manager is unhappy about the idea, forget it. Ideally the line manager should also be involved in the project, as Duncan was in my case, so that there is full and informed management support for the dual role. This conclusion is based both on personal experience and on the example of one of the earliest firm-wide KM projects in a law firm. Dr Karen Cleaver, an intellectual property and IT PSL at Rowe & Maw, who successfully managed the project to develop her firm’s legal KM portal, KnowMaw, reported to Stephen Gare, who combined the roles of head of know-how and head of the firm’s IP and IT group (see her article about the project in Computers & Law, December 2000/January 2001);
Is there anyone else who would be better suited to manage the project? KM projects can be managed successfully by a wide variety of people. In general, firms use those they already employ, whether partners, librarians, IT, KM and HR directors, or PSLs, although employing outside consultants or a professional project manager will be the best solution if there is no one within the firm suitable or willing to take on the job. A combination of an internal candidate and guidance from a consultancy can work well. Make sure that you have not overlooked someone with the necessary attributes and enthusiasm;
Advantages of a PSL as project manager. There are many advantages to employing a PSL to the role of project manager. As creators of much of the data that will be accessed via the KM system, they automatically believe in the need for such systems. They will usually be familiar with a wide range of online legal services and will be web literate. As most will previously have been fee earners, they will understand what the firm’s lawyers want and need, and will be able to talk to them with credibility. Where the project in question is an extranet rather than intranet, their PSL role may well already involve preparing client briefings, publications and seminars.

Disadvantages of a PSL as project manager

If the PSL in question is good at drafting legal documents and writing material for clients, or at giving internal training sessions or client seminars, is it the best use of their time to ask them to manage a project? Of course, as I said above, many of these skills will be employed in the project-management role, but it is inevitably the case that some, in particular, the legal- drafting skill, will not be exercised to its full potential during the project. Most PSLs will not have had project-management training, although some, such as Lucy Dillon (previously a litigation PSL at Linklaters and now the director of KM at Berwin Leighton Paisner) have MBAs, which will equip them for the role. I was fortunate to have a project champion with such a qualification. Of course, with the advent of the postgraduate diploma in know-how management for legal practice at Nottingham Law School, if you are thinking of grooming a PSL for such a role, or if you are a PSL thinking about a managerial role, there is now another route for acquiring some of these management skills.

Looking back on the packed 18-month period during which I was managing our KM project, I do not regret accepting the challenge. I learnt a great deal about Mills & Reeve, as well as about human nature and myself. Every day, I reap the benefits of FELIX with pleasure and pride at the thought that I had a hand in its creation. I also relish my return to what I still see as core PSL work. However, I also continue to manage the team of four maintaining FELIX and managing its content. A cautionary reminder to any PSLs contemplating a project-management role is that even when a project is officially concluded, you may well not be able to, or wish to, hand back all responsibility for the system that results. My advice to anyone thinking of asking a PSL to take on such a role, or to the lucky PSL in question, is to make sure that everybody touched by the consequences knows exactly what they will or might be at the outset. You will need to manage expectations and speak honestly about problems before and during the project to achieve a successful outcome for all concerned.

Miranda Whiteley is the litigation and insurance PSL at Mills & Reeve. She can be contacted at: miranda.whiteley@mills-reeve.com

The KM Partner perspective

Mills & Reeve was, until 1998, a member of the Norton Rose M5 Group, a grouping of five regional law firms and Norton Rose. A major benefit to members was the sharing of know-how via shared precedents and training. The group employed professional support lawyers (PSLs) and trainers, whose role was to spread best practice across all member firms.

For various reasons, the group was disbanded while I was on my watch as managing partner of Mills & Reeve. We were faced with an immediate KM challenge to replicate (and preferably improve upon) the KM benefits of group membership. We did not articulate it in those terms at the time, but it was the start of Mills & Reeve's KM project.

We recruited three senior PSLs to cover our major work areas (corporate, litigation and property) and a training manager. Six years later, we have eight PSLs together with four support staff working on FELIX (our legal KM system), as well as our extranet.

I was keen when my term as managing partner came to an end to take a fresh and strategic approach to our KM project. We expressed our aims very simply: to help Mills & Reeve achieve its business strategy by ensuring that everybody has ready access to the information they need to do their job in a timely and cost-effective way.

It sounds simple and there is certainly something to be said for keeping things relatively straight forward. If you want to make a success of a KM initiative, I have two tips:

Be pragmatic. Look at available resources;
Use tried and tested project-management techniques to maximise your chances of success.

I shall examine each in turn in the context of Mills & Reeve's KM project.

Pragmatic use of resources

We initially recruited three PSLs. Instinctively, I knew the KM investment that Mills & Reeve had made in the group needed to be 'ring fenced' and invested in KM. Concentrating on three senior PSLs in three core work areas for the firm was an obvious way to get started.

When we formalised our KM project and recognised the need for a legal KM system it seemed obvious to me that a lawyer should have a pivotal role in its design. Miranda Whiteley stood out as a lady with a mission to disseminate the know-how that she had prepared for her litigators in a user-friendly, searchable form. We were very lucky to have someone of Miranda's ability, already used to Mills & Reeve and ready to put time into our project. It would not have worked for ever, and part of the deal was that once the system was up and running, Miranda would be allowed to go back to her 'proper' job.

In the meantime, I was part of Miranda's available resource. It did probably help to have me on hand as an ex managing partner doing an MBA, who was ready to make KM the subject of his dissertation.

Having identified Miranda as the key person, and committed myself to a 'champion' role, neither of us could afford to let it fail.

Use basic project-management techniques

From my experience in practice, and from my studies, I knew there were some key ingredients to any project, including:

Lots of planning and a very clear definition of boundaries. It is well worth putting effort in at the beginning and, above all, defining the extent of the project to avoid 'project creep'. A topic such as KM lends itself to project creep since it has so many facets. However, if you allow yourself to be distracted, you may well fail to achieve some of the fundamental goals that you set at the beginning. We concentrated on legal know-how through FELIX, recognising that we had closely related projects such as a client-relationship-management project, a document-management project and development of our intranet and extranet. Many of these involve the same people and all come loosely within KM, yet the team charged with developing FELIX was not allowed to be distracted;
We worked to agreed timescales. Everybody involved had other tasks to carry out for Mills & Reeve and it was important that their line managers signed up to the required time commitment;
Recognising the complexity of the project took time, with an outside facilitator helping the core team to identify stakeholders and think through the critical interdependencies. We realised that we needed to think beyond the project team. In particular, our relationship with information engineers Granite & Comfrey was fundamental to our success and we would like to think we added something to their thinking at the time. Within the firm, where the project has worked well, we have designed an infrastructure and set the tone to motivate team leaders and other lawyers to feed FELIX with informal as well as formal know-how. To be honest, we have had mixed success in this and have learned to allocate our scarce resources appropriately;
The final tip concerns communication, although I would not claim to have mastered this one. We have regularly reported to Mills & Reeve's executive board (not just when we needed resources from them) and have publicised our activities internally with a KM bulletin. Miranda and I have been to endless team meetings to promote FELIX and what it can do. I am beginning to think, however, that we need to communicate even more and in different ways if we want to get the message well and truly home.

Ultimately, the more time you spend on KM, the more you realise its subtleties and complexities. Yet, to achieve anything in the context of a law firm, you need to identify a specific project and limit your initial aspirations to achieving those goals with the support of the key stakeholders. The PSLs have an absolutely fundamental role to play in this, not least when one considers that the dissemination of know-how is at the heart of a PSL's role. If you are lucky enough to have anyone with the necessary enthusiasm, I strongly recommend you put them at the heart of your KM project.

Duncan Ogilvy is KM partner at Mills & Reeve. He can be contacted at duncan.ogilvy@mills-reeve.com