Knowledge management in law firm marketing may just be doomed

I'm a huge fan of knowledge management (KM). When you know stuff but don't manage it well, you lose out on a huge asset that can be leveraged massively to the advantage of your firm.

There are whole books on this stuff. But let me make a very quick point to illustrate the power of KM. Let's apply it to contact management in the law firm marketing setting. Suppose you know one person at one client or potential client company. You have the possibility for only one interaction. Now, suppose I have one contact at one other organization. I have one possible interaction, too. We could each, potentially, make a sale or provide value to our own contacts. That's a total of two potential contacts for the firm.

But what if you and I share our information? Now... I could contact my guy, or yours. You could contact your guy, or mine. And... we could potentially make an introduction of your guy to my guy. And, there's also the possibility that all four of us could have a reason to work together. That's six potential relationships that could prove to be valuable to the firm instead of two. And that's when you apply KM principles to only two people with only one contact each! Imagine how much more powerful the results can be when multiplied over the span of an entire firm's marketing efforts.

Yet... law firms are incredibly hesitant to adopt or thoughtfully implement any kind of KM program, whether for contact management, case management, marketing, recruiting or any other endeavor that involves the systematic collection and use of organizational information.

In other areas, law firms have been driven to adopt new technology by outside forces. The malpractice insurance industry provides discounts to firms that use modern conflicts prevention methods, including good IT tools, and so some firms have adopted those tools. By the mid 1990's, clients were demanding that firms communicate with them by email, and so law firms -- many reluctantly -- began using email.

But  Rees Morrison reports in a recent blog post that in-house lawyers and law departments are also reluctant to adopt KM processes. Whether through fear of exposure "lest they be criticized," or due to lack of time or failure to see the value of the process.

What's that noise I just heard? Ah, yes. The tolling of the bell signaling the death of KM in the legal industry. Unless somebody comes up with another external impetus for law firms to adopt KM programs, I don't see it happening. Mostly because KM chiefly provides benefits in efficiency, and under the billable hour model there's no compelling reason to be efficient, as it eats into revenue. Maybe we can get plaintiff's firms to lead the charge on this front, specifically as it applies to mass tort litigation and personal injury law. Those are two areas where data-driven systems could provide massive returns in terms of time saved and communications efficiency.

But at large law firms? Well, although, off the top of my head,  I can think of five ways in which KM could be applied to improve marketing performance, I don't see it happening soon. Or ever. But God bless the firm that decides it's time to really get in there, make some serious changes and shake things up.

Comments

[Peter Jenkins]

Well, Andy, there are some stirrings among corporate clients that may just provide the external impetus for law firms to rethink their KM policies.

At the suggestion of several General Counsels (is that the correct plural of GC?), a new "Law Department Purchasing Consortium" has has been formed to assist corporate law department leaders nationwide identify resources to help them improve operational efficiencies, reduce costs and gain more value for the dollars they spend on legal and law-related services.

The initiative responds to the mounting pressure corporate clients are under to find more efficient ways to deliver legal services and trim costs in order to contribute meaningfully to their company bottom lines. See, www.LawDepartmentConsortium.com.

Without question, effective KM is going to play a central role in many cost-saving strategies that clients adopt. The Consortium is currently looking for entrepreneurial-minded attorneys and legal suppliers to serve as "Approved Providers" for Member companies. Law firms that demonstrate they "get it" on the KM front will be nicely rewarded.