Client-Facing Knowledge Management

1. From product to client service as the differentiating factor

When knowledge management became a topic for law firms in the 1990s, the focus was on the products lawyers deliver. Consequently, knowledge management was mainly an inward facing function. KM's main objective was to support the lawyers in delivering their products: oral and written legal advice and legal documents – memos, contracts, submissions, claims etc.

As KM and supporting technology has evolved, the lawyers' products have become less of a differentiating factor. The Internet has revolutionised legal research and most of the larger firms now have a powerful search engine and a central repository for know-how where lawyers may find templates or good precedents. Know-how providers such as Practical Law¹ offer everything a lawyer needs to produce a document: practice notes, checklists, templates, even a peer review and legal query service. As a consequence of this development, legal products have