By Kathleen Kriel
Many people, including attorneys, are often looking for better ways to conduct their day-to-day business. One of the tools to achieve this is knowledge management, which was the topic of the recent Janders Dean’s Legal Knowledge and African Innovation Conference – Africa, which was held in Johannesburg on 15 March.
At the event international and domestic speakers addressed delegates on knowledge management, international law firm growth and mergers in legal firms.
Knowledge management, a concept that arose approximately two decades ago, can be defined as ‘a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving and sharing all of an enterprise’s information assets’ (Michael ED Koenig ‘What is KM? Knowledge management explained’ KM World 4-5-2012 (www.kmworld.com, accessed 2-4-2013)).
Strategic knowledge management and innovation in law firms
In a keynote address, David Fitch, director of global knowledge management at law firm Latham & Watkins in London, said that the ‘time was right’ for knowledge management, which could be used as a strategy in response to difficult market conditions.
Since the financial crisis, law firms have been in a tough market, he said, adding that the message from partners and clients was for legal providers to deliver more value for less cost, while maintaining the same quality of service. Law firms were coming under pressure to do things differently, such as moving away from hourly rates to other fee arrangements, like fixed fees and value-based billing. In addition, there is an increasing demand for ‘value adds’, like direct access to know-how, training, and online content and services.
Citing from recent survey results, Mr Fitch added: ‘Price is becoming a primary driver of clients’ decisions as to whether to engage particular firms or not.’
Mr Fitch told delegates that knowledge management was a strategic priority and one of a number of strategies used as a response to difficult market conditions. The goal, besides making life easier for attorneys, is improving service and response times, which ultimately relates to supporting the business in terms of profitability, he added. It is a benefit to support innovation and business change, he said, adding that knowledge management drove efficiency, standardised products, dealt with risk issues, brought in business, protected margins and added value and support to key client relationships.
Knowledge management framework
Mr Fitch referred to a knowledge pyramid or framework, with five levels of knowledge management, representing current knowledge management in most law firms, although he noted that it was not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach for all firms. He said to legal practitioners: ‘The key is to put down the foundation and allow yourself to build depth and complexity to the programme over time and to recognise that each group will have different knowledge management priorities, and your role is to support the creation of those priorities but then align them to your firm’s goals and client demand, which is a challenge.’
This framework is illustrated below, together with a brief outline of each aspect.
Getting attorneys on board
Mr Fitch said that in his firm knowledge management was managed internally with an initiative providing for one hour spent on approved knowledge management translating into one billable hour. ‘The annual pace is 1 900 hours and that includes client billable hours, pro bono hours and knowledge management hours. Since the project was launched last year, we have 500 active knowledge management projects and the projects are reviewed like any other piece of work.’
Law firm strategic planning
In a panel discussion on the importance of having a strategic roadmap in knowledge management, panellists discussed how the size and nature of the law firm influenced a knowledge management strategy.
Gareth Cantin, professional support lawyer at local law firm Werksmans Attorneys, said: ‘The entry in the South Africa market by a lot of international law firms has changed the knowledge management space in South Africa. It was uncommon to have a knowledge management department in South Africa, but a lot of firms are seeing the value and efficiency gains in knowledge management.’
According to Tammy Beira, partner and director of knowledge at law firm Bowman Gilfillan, knowledge management is easier to manage in a smaller firm because asset sharing happens naturally in that environment. ‘When one moves into a bigger organisation, with the sheer size and growth, logistical and territorial differences, one needs a more structured organisational institutionalisation of knowledge,’ she said.
Ms Beira added that a roadmap and a strategy was necessary for a knowledge management team beginning the process. ‘This is to understand what the priorities and issues are that one needs to deal with in the firm. There should be a buy-in from the firm and, to get the buy-in, you must articulate your ideas. Great participation and implementation is needed and the knowledge management team needs to understand what the projects are and continually evaluate these.’
On this element, Mr Cantin said: ‘Executive buy-in, once it is there, means that it is easier to get knowledge management off the ground. Everyone is then interested in the projects and sees the need for them. It does take time for people to note the difference but, once they do, then they accept it more easily and will start contributing towards the systems in place.’
Ms Beira added: ‘We sit down with the different practice areas and discuss what their strategy is from a knowledge management perspective. The practice area articulates what it needs, for example, training necessities, forms, etcetera. You must have a centralised plan but it must be brought down to the practice area as that is where the relevance is.’
Case studies
Kgothatso Mamabolo, knowledge management specialist at mining company Kumba Iron Ore, cited the company’s ‘lessons learned’ knowledge management programme as an example of a knowledge management programme in action. The programme is used when an instruction is received to work on a project and there is no person to refer to for previous knowledge. ‘With the database, we can refer to the expertise and experiences of project managers. The knowledge is used to pick up on trends and improve on the processes in the company and every project manager submits a report on a phase of the project when it is completed.’
Ms Beira referred to her firm’s internal blog about the Companies Act 71 of 2008 as another example. ‘It was an opportunity for innovation in a knowledge management sense. It is a creative way to interpret things and how to deal with difficult challenges in complex law and it has proved to be successful.’
Ms Beira added: ‘You have to be flexible and agile but be open to ideas emerging from the business. You have to be mindful of opportunities.’
Knowledge management and international law firm growth
Tara Pichardo-Angadi, head of knowledge (Europe, Middle East and Africa region) at law firm Norton Rose, said that many local law firms were merging with international firms, essentially to provide clients with a global service. She said that this had implications for firms’ knowledge management, which had to be ‘global’, adding that some of the risk-related elements to consider when sharing knowledge globally were:
What clients want, need and value
In a panel discussion, Justin North, director of Janders Dean, said that a knowledge manager’s clients were the associates, partners and others in the firm, and it was necessary to understand their needs, requirements and behaviours.
Samantha Hogben, assistant general counsel at gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, said that the company worked with a number of law firms; however, what set some apart was that they understood how the company operated and what its needs were. In addition, what made a firm attractive was knowing their approach to certain issues and having a level of certainty when working with it.
Ms Hogben commended a London law firm that corresponds with her only when there is an important issue at hand. ‘The e-mail is addressed straight to me and comes from the senior partner and the senior partner will only correspond with us when there is an issue that will impact our business. We receive no other e-mails from that law firm. When I see an e-mail from them, I open it as I know it contains something important.’
Ms Hogben added that 70% of the e-mails she received from law firms did not pertain to the field in which she works.
Haydn Davies, a partner at local law firm Webber Wentzel, said that knowledge is what attorneys offered and client feedback in this regard was thus important. ‘Knowledge is what we know and who we know, and we share those concepts in our firm. Client feedback is very important. You might think the deal went off well and that there were no difficulties, but it might be different from the client’s point of view,’ he said.
Jonathan Lang, head of the Africa Group at Bowman Gilfillan, said that the firm had regular interviews with clients to obtain their feedback. He added that this took place in a neutral environment.
Ms Hogben noted that, compared to international firms, not as many South African firms asked for client feedback. ‘If I cannot talk to the members of the firm directly, then there will not be a relationship. Personal contact is the key,’ she said.
Mr North concluded by saying that it was important to understand clients’ needs before implementing any knowledge management strategies in an attorney firm.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Mr North said: ‘Business intelligence is knowledge management. Knowledge management is about what we know. Simple as that. What we know about our client, what we know about each other, what we know about our industry, what we know about our previous work, what we know and how we are going to use that information or that knowledge to make money or to make our people happier or to retain staff. Information about clients is vital and has to be a part of your knowledge roadmap and strategy.’
Kathleen Kriel, kathleen@derebus.org.za
This article was first published in De Rebus in 2013 (May) DR 16.
