Feature

posted 19 Feb 2003 in Volume 5 Issue 9

Making the most of your firm’s know-how

Effective knowledge management is an internal and external challenge. Lawyers must be trained to integrate knowledge sharing into their day-to-day practices. Similarly, law firms must tailor their KM programmes to the needs of their clients and the nature of their practice. Paul Bartelings, know-how manager at Holland Van Gijzen, assesses the effective implementation and use of KM in the national and international arena.

In this article, several issues will be discussed from a practical point of view to help knowledge managers in law firms look at this topic from a different and new perspective. It will hopefully solve some short-term questions and lead to further internal discussions.

The more experienced managers will have read a lot about the challenges of organising a knowledge-management system. These initiatives can lean on a “hard” high-tech IT solution or on a “soft” communication method of managing knowledge. There are hundreds of articles and books on these subjects and still, after about ten years of KM in law firms, few firms are fully satisfied with it. Why is this the case?

This article focuses on overcoming several critical fail factors in the development and implementation of a knowledge-management organisation and suggests new initiatives in a multinational setting. I am sure lawyers working in a local setting can benefit from it as well, as long as they keep market and client needs in focus.

Knowledge managers must realise that law firm professionals are their clients for whom they must establish a knowledge infrastructure that fits the needs of the practice perfectly. Key issues in this article are:

Individuality;
Multiple locations;
Interaction and knowledge sharing across departments, cultures and regional offices;
Training across a multi-office set up.

The most important questions

There are two questions a lawyer must answer. How can I solve a legal problem quickly and deliver the highest quality service, without making mistakes? How can I operate pro-actively and in such a manner so that the client cannot do without my legal advice? In other words: how do I stay on top of relevant information?

If a knowledge manager does not understand this attitude, implementing a KM system of one kind or another will be degraded to the firm’s archive system and rarely used. It will also cause daily disappointment.

The big challenge

The challenge for the knowledge manager lies in getting a dynamic and varied infrastructure in place. It must be dynamic for several reasons:

The external market demand changes;
Client-specific needs change;
Internal roles change;
The firm’s focus can change;
New products are developed;
Law firms merge and split up;
Lawyers’ needs change;
Internal practice groups share knowledge in a different manner.

The infrastructure can be “high tech” or “no tech”, as long as the practitioners know their way and realise that they are part of it and that it will be valuable to them. There must be an infrastructure and it must have content. The content is all the need-to-know information such as models, memo’s, jurisprudence, a library and, in the best case: best practices, methodology, market, and client information. If this is not in the system, the knowledge manager must know the quickest way it can be obtained.

The lawyer’s learning process

In the process of becoming a lawyer there are three stages. We see these stages in every country:

Learning;
Training;
Coaching.

In this article, the emphasis lies on overcoming individuality and cultural obstacles for a knowledge-management organisation that works in a multinational setting. Understanding these challenges helps in designing the right knowledge-management methods and techniques.

Learning stage

There is a cultural aspect in the academic education of future lawyers. In some countries, lawyers are trained to solve problems individually: write your own paper or report and the teacher will judge the findings. No wonder young lawyers work alone. Other educational systems promote teamwork. These lawyers are more or less useless in small law offices because they are trained to discuss every possible outcome with colleagues. To make it even more complex, the education methods and systems vary within a country.

It is a fact that there are different academic education systems. It is also a fact that cultures differ. A knowledge manager cannot change this.

After university the learning stage continues. Almost all bar associations require a compulsory education and exam. Students are taught the necessary legal subjects but I have never seen a subject examining how and why share knowledge? Once a lawyer enters a law firm there is an opportunity to fill this deficiency.

Profile

A law firm must design a profile based on its vision. Within this, a description is given of the type of lawyer matching the firm’s profile. No matter what form of legal education background he or she has, missing skills can always be trained.

Training stage

The finished profile will reveal what skills are required and, together with the firm’s vision, will provide a basis for a training programme in which lawyers can learn to work in teams and share knowledge. The most successful programmes are those in which the knowledge manager and the firm as a whole are directly involved and work together. It is also necessary to ensure that successful actions and direct feedback on initiatives are included in any training scheme.

Coaching

There is one great danger in learning and training sessions: day-to-day practice is different. This is why coaching colleagues must be a crucial part of the legal practice, the methods of which should be incorporated into the training programme. How do we work and what is expected? What is in it for the younger professional? The coaches must be selected very carefully. An interesting way to find out who would be a suitable coach is to ask: who can teach us the most in our organisation?

The training sessions need not be nationally oriented. International firms with international clients demand an international approach. Once the training is developed all lawyers must be able to participate.

Personal profiles and competence schemes will also clarify any gaps in the differing backgrounds and skill-sets of lawyers within the firm. For each individual and gap there must be training that includes knowledge sharing as an essential component. Assuming that the firm is serious about its knowledge-sharing strategy, this training and education will be compulsory. This should also suit young professionals who are looking for the best career opportunities and progression.

Holland Van Gijzen founded the Holland Law School. At this internal school, learning and training modules are developed and implemented. Two areas are specified:

The need to acquire legal knowledge – often together with outside experts (universities and judges), the office models are reviewed and discussed;
Training and personal development – specific tailor-made training gives the professional tools to bring the firm’s knowledge strategy into practice. Most lawyers are also looking for personal development. Through such training, the firm invests in individuals;
The effects are clear: not only is the firm’s knowledge kept up-to-date with regular model reviews, but knowledge is also shared and office integration established.

What works?

Knowledge management in the legal practice works if:

The firm works with the knowledge-management system to effectively communicate its vision and strategy;
Human-resources management (HRM) is clear with profiles of the lawyers and the knowledge manager in place;
Training and education is focused on sharing the firm’s knowledge, giving feedback in day-to-day practice and demonstrating added value;
There is adequate support and initiatives from marketing – this is important for the demonstration of knowledge and experience to your clients;
There is adequate support from IT specialists;
The knowledge department is part of the practice and not part of the headquarters. The department must be present and part of the operational process at all times.

Interaction between departments

Knowledge and information must be seen in a holistic setting and, depending on the firm’s vision on this point, several departments and roles can be distinguished. The interaction between the departments is one of the most attractive parts of being a knowledge manager.

Management board: one or more members are responsible for the firm’s knowledge-management strategy. The knowledge manager must report directly to the board. This will create a perfect basis for a wide acceptance of the system strategy within the entire organisation. The responsible board member must play an active role in the knowledge-management organisation. A former senior partner can be an adviser to the management board or to the knowledge manager but making him or her responsible for knowledge management does not automatically mean success. The former senior partner may be well respected for his or her legal expertise and team work but creating operational successes in the knowledge-management field demands completely different qualifications.

HRM: once job profiles are made, each individual can see which skills are needed to make the next career step. The profile and a balanced scorecard make a perfect tool and reporting system. The report system will give an overview of knowledge-sharing motivation within the firm. The knowledge manager must be informed about knowledge contribution and the internal use of it. During the individual evaluation, it will be clear what contributions have been made and what planning can be made for the next period.

Training and education department: training is developed in collaberation with the knowledge manager.

Marketing: knowledge and experience can be seen as products that are transferable. There are many ways to do this; the two most important, however, are publications and presentations. The market consists of potential recruits and clients. Through various marketing channels, a firm can demonstrate to them that its knowledge and information system is state of the art. Research has shown that small and well-prepared client seminars and publications in selected magazines and journals are most effective.

IT: a database must be a tool and not the goal of knowledge management. There are two IT areas: architecture and infrastructure, and content. Some firms will design their own system, while others will apply an existing product. The knowledge manager is involved in this process.

Content can be divided into two parts: know-how and library. The best systems integrate both. All these roles are equally important. The knowledge manager must be a facilitator and initiator in these processes. Once he or she is accepted, and the system gives direct feedback to the practitioners, the system will function. The knowledge managers will see what information is demanded and necessary.

The 190 practitioners at Holland Van Gijzen work with a know-how database that combines the infrastructure with content. Once an approved model is imported in the system, the attached query will automatically produce the latest jurisprudence, articles in law journals and new legislation from the digital library. The dynamic model is created with high-speed output.

Multiple locations

In this article, I have mentioned cultural differences in how lawyers are educated and how they think and work. Large firms demand different managerial skills from senior practitioners compared to small firms. Of course this has nothing to do with the quality of the output. Large firms have other clients with different demands. I always formulate two questions: how do we work and how does the client expect us to work? Lawyers working for a large firm should ask “multinational” questions. Before you develop a knowledge-management strategy the question must be asked: in how many cases is international knowledge really required?

The difference between geographical and legal areas

The content of the knowledge-management system that covers multiple locations must be developed on the following bases:

A national law firm with different locations and national clients only. In most cases the area of legal services will be broad. The firm needs national content: national jurisprudence, standard forms, memos, EU-legislation;
A national law firm with different locations and mostly international clients. In most cases the area of legal services will be company commercial law and labour law. The firm needs national and international content: national jurisprudence, standard forms, memos, EU-legislation, English legal documents and a solid contact database for referral purposes;
International law firm with one or more locations and national clients only. The firm needs national content: national jurisprudence, standard forms, memos, EU-legislation. The firm must be able to pick up referrals from the other foreign offices;
International law firm with one or more locations and mostly international clients. The firm needs national content: national jurisprudence, standard forms, memos, EU-legislation. International knowledge sharing must add value to the services.

In order to make the knowledge-management system work, it is necessary to know how the knowledge system will affect legal service delivery and how it will meet

the needs of the client. Without this understanding, practitioners will not use the system and the investment will prove worthless.

International law firms and international challenges

International firms in particular should be able to combine knowledge and experiences. The client is looking for an international approach and solution. How do you manage the firm’s knowledge in this field?

I am sure many initiatives have been developed and perhaps redesigned. Not much is known about how effective these systems are. What we do understand is client satisfaction. Is it reliant on the knowledge-management system, and to what extent?

Potential challenges are:

International law firms may have one central office or headquarters but in most cases, the law firm wants to manage the practice locally as this is where the legal setting takes place. This is where, therefore, the knowledge must be managed;
Hierarchy – lawyers want to stay away from complicated approval procedures;
IT – the more countries in the alliance, the more technical infrastructure problems can arise.

What will work in the multinational setting?

The multinational setting is special because decisions are made further away geographically, the national firms are concentrating on their local situation, cultural differences exist, resources are hard to find and last but not least, priorities may differ.

In this setting it is even more important to realise that the goal must not simply be setting up a system but setting up a system based on client needs:

Create a working group that consists of knowledge professionals from each country;
Select issues that are important throughout the firm based on client needs;
Collect knowledge and experiences from different countries;
Make sure the working group maintains knowledge;
Take it step by step, maybe one issue at the time.

Once the issue is worked out and all the relevant documentation is in place, the implementation phase starts. It is important to realise that setting up the dossier must not be the primary goal. Working with it, and making amendments to it, is more important. Through communication and training sessions, the practitioners have to get used to this method. The mentor must be trained not only in working in this manner but also in reviewing the juniors and their motivation. The knowledge manager must, like any product manager, constantly review the firm’s products.

There are other subjects to cover, such as sharing your knowledge directly with your clients, IT issues and how to structure databases, communication, discipline and HR aspects.

I have tried, however, to focus on a few aspects of KM in the hope that you will gain some practical insights into this interesting and important support mechanism for practitioners.

Conclusion

Knowledge management has a great chance of working successfully if it is:

Part of the firm’s target and strategy;
Part of the work process;
Part of the individual evaluation and incentive programme;
Frequently reviewed as part of product development.

In the Ernst & Young law alliance (3,000 lawyers), the process of structural and systematic KM is brought to a higher level focusing on:

Establishing knowledge management for all practices, starting with specific legal issues and pointing out standard procedures and documentation that is easily accessible;
Creating and maintaining a contact database, discussion database and power packs: who knows what? Where can I find what?
Creating and maintaining external sources;
Communication through the intranet (Law Networker).

Knowledge managers must answer these two questions:

Considering the needs of the professional and the type of clients, what kind of knowledge management does the organisation need?
Is it “high tech” or “no tech”?

How does the KM work most effectively?

A selection of specific subjects must be made. The relevant documentations must be easily retrievable. The infrastructure must be dynamic and flexible. Training and education are indispensable.

Paul Bartelings is know-how manager at Holland Van Gijzen. He can be contacted at: nlbarte8@hollandlaw.nl.