Legal Information and Knowledge Management

Abstract

This chapter discusses characteristics of knowledge work, knowledge uncertainty perspectives, knowledge co-creation with clients, knowledge depth and breadth, practice-driven law firm change, legal knowledge and analytical technologies, professional network identification, and some law firm characteristics of particular importance to knowledge management. The issue of legal information and knowledge management is not only considered from the perspective of law firms. Legal departments and, more generally, the flow of legal information from legal departments to nonlawyers such as executives and operational staff, are also covered in the chapter. The question of legal information is put into perspective with the notion of legal performance by explaining how mastering legal knowledge management can improve the legal performance of companies, a notion that is at the center of this book’s approach. Knowledge co-creation with clients is based on the notion that the client and the lawyer have different knowledge domains. The client–lawyer knowledge gap can be bridged by co-creating knowledge directed at solving or enabling knowledge issues. In the role of defender, the lawyer is to assess the legal implications of the alleged wrongdoing by the client. In the role of enabler, the lawyer is to assess possibilities for the client. In the role of investigator, the lawyer is to reconstruct past events and sequences of events. In the various roles, knowledge-sharing and co-creation can enable successful outcomes.