Education

Knowledge Management In The Modern Law Firm

Patrick DiDomenico

Ark Group & Managing Partner Magazine have announced the 4th Annual program for “Knowledge Management In The Modern Law Firm: Creating Value for Your Firm by Integrating, Optimizing and Leveraging Your Knowledge Assets, Tools and Techniques in Support Of Explicit Business Goals.” It is scheduled for October 27-28, 2008 in Chicago, IL.

If history repeats, this will be a good conference.

Here’s the line up:

What Do Practicing Lawyers Expect from the KM Function?

  • Mark Young, Managing Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
  • John S. Gillies, Director of Practice Support, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

Can IT and KM Both Be Strategic and Operational?

  • Peter K. Kaomea, Chief Information Officer, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
  • Tom Baldwin, [blog] Chief Knowledge Officer, Reed Smith, LLP
  • Stuart Kay, Director, Global Information Systems Projects, Baker & McKenzie

The Convergence of Litigation Support, Practice Support, Risk Management and Client Services

Can Transactional-Based KM Practices be Extended to Support Litigation?

  • Amy Halverson, Litigation Knowledge Manager, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
  • David B. Hobbie, [blog] Litigation Knowledge Manager, Goodwin Procter LLP
  • Mary Panetta, Director of Knowledge Management, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

Fostering and Nurturing the Research & Development Function at Your Firm

Words by the Numbers: Using Multi-Faceted Analytics to Drive KM in an International Law Firm

A Retrospective Look at KM Initiatives Across Law Firms (Has DM peaked? The evolution of practice-based web services and the consignment of DM to the back-end, Portals – one solution or a myriad of opportunities?)

  • Joel Alleyne, CMC, former Chief Information and Knowledge Officer, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Chairman and CEO, Alleyne Inc.
  • Joshua Fireman, Vice-President Market Development and General Counsel, ii3

Enterprise Search: Holy Grail, Panacea or a Failed Opportunity? (From content and collection to context and collaboration, Web 2.0 and its impact on longstanding KM problems, KM opportunities that KM professionals never seem to exploit)

  • Joel Alleyne, CMC, former Chief Information and Knowledge Officer, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Chairman and CEO, Alleyne Inc.
  • Joshua Fireman, Vice-President Market Development and General Counsel, ii3
  • Terrie J. Rollins, CEO, RMR Technology Group and former CKO, Federal Systems, Unisys corp.

Contact Peter Franken for more info:
773 281 4275
pfranken@ark-group.com
usa.ark-group.com

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Wiki Webinar – March 19, 2008 | Knowledge Management

Patrick DiDomenico

This is a PBWiki Webinar called “Getting the most out of PBwiki 2.0 for your business” on Wednesday, March 19, 2008.  Register.

From the invite: “Join us and explore how PBwiki 2.0 can help your business get more from your wiki. Explore examples of using folders and access controls, as well as how you can customize your wiki’s look in seconds, just based on your company logo.  Plus, ask the PBwiki team your questions.”

I’m looking forward to this because I am not crazy about PBWiki 1.0.

See other LawyerKM wiki posts.

See a page with all of my favorite blogs (many of which also discuss wikis).

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Google's Universal Search for Law Firms & Interwoven | Knowledge Management

Patrick DiDomenico

Google’s Universal Search for Law Firms & Interwoven  

Presentation on March 12, 2008, Vijay Koduri, Marketing Manager, Google Enterprise and Gautam Malkamekar of Persistent Systems. 

My notes from the presentation:

  • Google Enterprise overview:
    • “mission organize the world’s information…”
    • enterprise information (i.e. info behind the firewall) is 40% world’s information.
  • 600 Google employees dedicated to G Enterprise.
  • 15,000 customers.
  • Google Apps – the suite of apps (now also including Google Sites [see my gripe about Sites here]).
  • 2000 new Apps customers every day!
  • “Search is the starting point to the world’s information.”
  • Knowledge workers (“KWs”) spend 25% of time looking for information.
  • KWs search about 5 repositories looking for information.
  • Expertise location is important 
  • Impact on business is loss of productivity, not optimizing billable hours.
  • What is Universal Search?
    • one search searches multiple repositories
    • the results are delivered without categorizing
    • the results are ranked by relevancy
    • an example of Universal search is Google’s Moma internal knowledge base
  • Universal search allows client access via extranets (security is observed to only give access to allowed material).
  • ROI: increase of billable hours – eliminate some time searching so that billers can spend some of that time doing billable activities (time is money).
  • The Google Search Appliance (GSA) searches pretty much all repositories in the enterprise (file shares, intranets, databases, enterprise apps, content management).
  • “OneBox” – Can make real time queries into various apps (ex. see a snapshot of a regional sales report in the search results – not just a link to the report).
  •  Case Study: Akin Gump (not many details).
    • deployed GSA
    • used it to search intranet pages

Second part of webinar – Persistent Systems & Live demo 

The info here is spare because there were some technical problems)

How Universal Search is “extended” to interwoven

  • Persistent Systems overview
  • Connector Deployment – there is Persistent Systems connector between the Interwoven databases and the GSA (fed via XML)
  • Quick – easy install, simple configuration. 

Live demo of Connector

  • an apparently simple “walk through” set up – it took 5 minutes. 
  • A Google browser is used, allowing to search just public content or public & secure content. 
  • only content to which the user has access appears – demonstrated this feature by signing in as different users with different access credentials. 
  • demonstrated Google OneBox – shows relevant real time information in the search results.
  • They can also connect into other DMS products, like Hummingbird

Q&A:

  • The GSA is a closed box and Google does not share the info with anyone outside of the enterprise
  • GSA can search MS Exchange databases, too.
  • It can search across multiple Worksite servers in different geographical locations.
  • Security is checked
  • The search must originate from the web page, but can be embedded in FileSite, with some custom work.
  • Pricing: based on number of documents in organization.  Starting $30,000 (for two-year license, hardware, software, support) for 500,000 documents.  Can index up to 30 million documents with stacked GSAs.
  • There is a small business version of product “Google Mini” 50,000 documents – $3,000.
  • Application can search Word Perfect, as well as Word and many, many other file types.
  • Information can be compartmentalized so that only certain people can see it.
  • Works with single sign on mechanisms. 
  • OneBox works by doing a real-time query. 
  • Google does not keep your search statistics, but you can keep track of your own search statistics within the enterprise with Google Analytics. 
  • They skipped my question: how many Am Law 100 firms have deployed GSA and how many have deployed the Persistent Systems connector?

Webinar is archived here.

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Innovation at Google – a day in the life | Knowledge Management

Patrick DiDomenico

This was a fantastic webinar from KMWorld and Google:

Innovation @ Google: A Day In The Life

On March 11, 2008, Naveen Viswanatha, Sales Engineer at Google Enterprise gave a really great presentation. 

My notes from the presentation: 

  • Broad background of Google and Google Enterprise, touting customer base, etc.
  • Internet Evolution – from information to distribution & communitaction to network & platform.
  • Chronology of how Google evolved with the internet – timeline with their many online products.
  • “Innovation is at the core of Google’s competiveness.” 
  • 70-20-10 Rule – i.e. Google splits its business focus: 70% focus on core business (Search, Ads, Apps); 20% on things with strong potential (blogger, Picassa, News, Pack); 10% Wild and Crazy (offline adds, wifi, transit).   
  • How Google hires people – the hiring process is “painfull.” (See Fast Company article: “Our hiring process is legendary”
  • Google has a relatively flat management structure. 
  • Internal tool called “Snippets” (a nag email: what did you work on last week? – what are you working on this week?) – so you can track your work.  AND it is a knowledge-base tool because everyone else can search all other snippets and get information on what they may be working on. 
  • Google Ideas database – post and review ideas within Google – people can comment on and vet out the ideas.  The ideas might turn into an actual project.  [plus, it records the things that are Google’s intellectual property] – it uses the “wisdom of the crowds” philosophy.
  • Innovation is a collaborative process at Google –  “Innovation = Discovery + Collaboration (+ Fun)” 
  • First day at Google is “like drinking from a firehose”
  • Any questions – go to “Moma” – Google’s internal knowledge base – search of their key knowledge areas. 
  • Can look for experts within the company – Google expert search within Moma – lots of an individual’s information is searchable (including resumes, which they encourage people to keep up to date).   
  • Search results within Moma – you can take notes in the search results (of the things that you are searching) – uses Google Docs [I used Google Docs to take notes for this blog post] – and you can publish the notes — it publishes it out to the people you want (they use gMail, chat, Goolge Calendar – can overlay colleague’s calendars on top of your own so that you can schedule meetings, etc.). 
  • Regarding the notes – others can make changes to your notes (which you created in Google Docs) in real time – you can see the changes on your screen. 
  • It’s all about the “…ability to find and leverage collective wisdom of the organization…” 
  • How are experts are established?  Expert databases are hard to keep upto date.  So they leverage the things that people do already: resumes, blogs, wikis, Snippets, Moma, etc.
  • Are these tools avaiable to the public?  Yes and no.  Search is the key enabler to tap into the repositories that are already in use at your organization (touting Google Search Appliance). 

The event is archived: here  

I really encourage people to check this out.  Especially those who are new to KM.  This presentation gave a glimpse into Google as a company and it shows off some great ways that any organization can approach KM. 

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Enterprise Search Summit – May 19-21, 2008 | Knowledge Management

Patrick DiDomenico

Enterprise search in law firms is hot. Ron at Strategic Legal Technology and Doug at KM Space both reported that it was identified it as one of the top priorities for law firm knowledge management in 2008.

What better reason to go to the Enterprise Search Summit this May in New York?

I am especially looking forward to:

  • Enterprise Search 101 (pre-conference workshop)
  • Enterprise Search Technology Intensive (pre-conference workshop)
  • Social Work: Is Social Search Right for Enterprise (Ross Mayfield of Socialtext is a speaker)
  • The Enterprise Search Engine Landscape
  • The Nuts & Bolts of Selecting an Enterprise Search Engine
  • Search Connections in Context (Oz Benamram of Morrison & Foerster is a speaker)
  • Search as a Gateway to Enterprise Info
  • Enterprise Search Clinic: Vivisimo
  • Build a case for an Enterprise Search Platform
  • Mining Additional Value from Enterprise Search
  • Keynote Panel: Take a 30,000-Foot View of Enterprise Search Implementation
  • Evaluating the ROI of Search
  • The Future of Search

Will you be there?

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Social Networks, Blogs, Privacy, Mash-Ups, Virtual Worlds and Open Source

Patrick DiDomenico
PLI presentation:
Here’s the agenda:
Day 1
9:00 Introduction (Peter Brown, Leonard T. Nuara)
9:15 The Newest Forms of Communication: Social Networks and Blogs (E. Judson Jennings, Lori Lesser)
  • What is the business model of social networks?
  • Who are the users and what are they saying?
  • What are the critical legal issues for social networks and blogs?
  • Are blogs and social network postings covered by fair use under copyright law?

10:15 Cutting Edge Litigation Issues (Paul R. Gupta, Peter J. Pizzi)

  • Litigation in the Web 2.0 world
  • Content owners turn to litigation
  • Social networks lead to litigation
  • Virtual worlds – “real” litigation

11:30 The Maturing of the Open Source Movement (Stephen J. Davidson)

  • Business and government turn to open source
  • Understanding the new open source license – GPLv3
  • Current open source litigation

1:45 Privacy and Data Breaches (Thomas M. Laudise, Marc J. Zwillinger)

  • Complying with state notification laws, a comprehensive strategy
  • Lessons learned from data breaches big and small
  • What your IT staff and your vendors don’t want to tell you when data goes missing
  • Secondary fallout from breaches: Dealing with vendors
    and banks
  • New risks created by new technologies and Web 2.0

3:00 Developing Corporate Policies for Information Security and Privacy: The In-House Perspective (Michael F. Cronin, Lynn A. Goldstein, Tracy Pulito)

  • Panel discussion by in-house counsel
  • Defining the duties of a Chief Privacy Officer
  • Only collect what you can protect – What data are you storing and where is it kept?
  • Are data breaches inevitable? Simple ways to eliminate common causes of data breaches

4:00 Ethical Issues Arising from Virtual Worlds, Social Networks and Blogs (Justin Brookman, Sean F. Kane)

  • What can you say on a personal or law firm sponsored blog?
  • Risks in using the internet to investigate potential employees or adversaries
  • Monitoring blogs of employees
  • What real-life ethical consequences arise from “virtual” legal or business activities?

Day Two

9:00 What You Need to Know About Virtual Worlds (Peter Brown, Leonard T. Nuara)

  • The purchase and sale of virtual property
  • Advertising and promotion in virtual worlds
  • Trademark and copyright infringement in virtual worlds

10:00 Resolving Disputes in Outsourcing Transactions (Kenneth A. Adler)

  • Analyzing and identifying the critical issues
  • Negotiating new contract provisions
  • Crisis points in outsourcing contracts and how to draft meaningful protections

11:15 Employee Mobility in a High-Technology World (Victoria Cundiff, Steve Fram)

  • How to maximize protection of trade secrets when employees leave
  • How hiring companies immunize themselves from trade secret claims
  • Using technology to protect trade secrets and detect misuse
  • Protecting trade secrets in a virtual workplace
  • Choice of law issues in a mobile environment

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms

Free Web Law Library Opens to the Public | Knowledge Management

Patrick DiDomenico

Fastcase announced its free law library on the Web, called the Fastcase Public Library of Law
(http://www.plol.org). It is billed as “the most comprehensive free resource for legal research online, making it the best starting point for anyone who wants to learn about and use the law.”

Here’s what is available on PLoL:

  • Cases from the U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals
  • Cases from all 50 states back to 1997
  • Federal statutory law and codes from all 50 states
  • Regulations, court rules, constitutions, and more!

LawyerKM :: Knowledge Management & Technology for Lawyers and Law Firms