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June 14, 2007

KM the Lazy Way - Collecting Attorney Experience

I've always suspected that my lazy streak is the basis for my technology skills. If I have the choice, I'd rather spend an hour figuring out how to automate a repetitive task, than spend an hour DOING the repetitive task. I guess I just like problem solving.

There are some good and valid reasons for being lazy. If you start a system that requires a great deal of labor and maintenance, there's an excellent chance that somewhere down the line, the system that you worked so hard on will be abandoned due to lack of staffing. I've worked in law firms long enough to see that happen a few times...and I hear stories...

So when it comes to KM I'll admit I like automated solutions whenever possible. Along those lines, if you're considering collecting expertise/experience information, you might want to consider some of the sources OTHER THAN YOUR ATTORNEYS, for such information like the ones discussed by on KM Space You may not get everything you want this way, but you certainly can collect some valuable information on the kind of work your attorneys do. If you have Recommind, as does MOFO, you're in good shape to leverage these data sources into a useful resource.

I'd also like to extend this kind of approach to work product. There are many third-party research services that collect documents that are public records, such as court filings and SEC documents. If you can search by law firm, and often you can, these services can provide you with a way to search an admittedly limited body of documents. It's not everything, not even close, but if you have no other internal way of finding these documents, it's a quick and easy way to go.

Comments

Posted by: Aukcje at June 17, 2007 04:15 AM

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