Legal IT Legal ITKnowledge management is power, but do law firms understand what it is and how it can benefit their businesses? Simon Levene outlines a series of seminars and articles that aim to set the record straight

Let’s face it, knowledge management (KM) has been a subject of discussion at most law firms for a number of years now — yet the business value of the techniques, processes and tools that comprise KM remains nebulous to the majority of law firm leaders.

As they struggle to ‘get their arms’ around KM, these leaders are crying out for a useful definition of knowledge management. Unfortunately, ‘stock’ responses, such as ‘it is getting the right information to the right people, at the right time, at the right place and at the right cost’ are so generic as to be almost useless when trying to explain the real business benefits of KM. Communicating the meaning of KM is, therefore, often the first hurdle to get over when trying to sell its benefits and this communication is not helped by the words ‘knowl-edge’ and ‘management’ themselves. Almost all KM evangelists (those who believe in KM are typically evangelical in that belief) are frustrated with the term knowledge management.   ¶ 08:46