Knowledge Management in Law Firms - here is a good article that appears in LLRX that focuses on comparing KM initiatives in US and U.K. law firms. The author studied several large firms in both countries and his report has many interesting conclusions, among them: US firms are not as good at sharing knowledge or incentivizing the sharing of legal knowledge. I'm sure that Rick will have something to say here, and hopefully Chris Smith can offer some commentary. My take is that, for most firms, the financial incentive to share knowledge is not built into the system and there is no clear upgrade path to get to a point of knowledge sharing.
Later: here's an article that Rick recommended in a similar post today. All of these articles identify the key problem in US law firms as insufficient motivation to share. The firms that learn to use KM to become efficient will eventually come to have a well-recognized advantage in marketing, and in attracting quality lawyers. Young lawyers are the ones who have the most need predictable systems, and who most suffer from the lack of stored knowledge. And yet they are the ones asked to reinvent the wheel most often. Without the blueprints, of course.
[Ernie the Attorney]
