All Our Tips
Knowledge Management – Tips for Small Law Firms
I had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat on Monday about knowledge management with Canada’s reigning Information Diva, Connie Crosby.
The video of our discussion is embedded below:
The focus of our conversation was how Canada’s smaller law firms can utilize current knowledge management approaches to better identify, organize and access their own, valuable knowledge inventories – their precedents, checklists, document templates, research memos, and other key data.
Connie is principal of Crosby Group Consulting, a Toronto-based firm, specializing in knowledge management, information management, social media and library management. She is a law librarian, Slaw contributor, law blogging pioneer and leader in the knowledge management field in Canada’s legal community.
While we had a good discussion about the nuts and bolts of developing and using knowledge management infrastructure, I think the key takeaways from my talk with Connie were about the importance of developing a simple system, in consultation with all users, to ensure maximum functionality, comprehensiveness, and of the utmost importance, buy-in by all.
Here is my summary of Connie Crosby’s tips for small law firms on getting started with knowledge management:
- Start out with a “knowledge audit.” Canvas all lawyers and staff in your firm for the precedents, legal research, templates and other documents they use that should be in the firm’s digital knowledge library. Also seek their input on the kind of system you should be developing and the features they would like your new knowledge infrastructure to have.
- Ask firm members about the workarounds they have developed, in the absence of a formalized system. Those workarounds could give you excellent clues about the kind of system that would best suit your firm.
- Keep the communications going with your end-users throughout the process of collection, compiling and organizing your firm’s key documents. Consult with users at key milestones in developing and implementing your new system to make sure you are headed in the right direction for them.
- After collecting your key templates and documents, review them to see if they can be improved upon, with a goal that only your best and most reliable documents will ultimately be found in your knowledge library. Discard duplicates and outdated precedents, and enjoy a digital spring cleaning of all those old and unnecessary documents that clutter up your current templates and precedent folders.
- Protect client confidentiality by removing client names and identifying information from all templates, research memos and other documents that will reside in your knowledge library.
- While database-based knowledge management systems are currently the state of the art and provide numerous benefits, there is no need to envision implementing a system that is beyond your firm’s means or technical ability to to create. Instead, when getting started, consider a Windows folder-based system for organizing and accessing the documents in your knowledge library. Get there faster by leveraging the existing technologies and skill sets that are already abundantly available in your firm.
- Organize documents into easily understood main folders and sub-folders. Consider grouping by practice area, office function, or other obvious categorization, so that your system structure will be easy to follow and require minimal training.
- Keep it simple. If you will be using a folder-based system for organizing and storing your knowledge, don’t overdo it with overly-complex sub-folder structures that may ultimately complicate and impede user access to needed documents – and potentially undermine users’ willingness to work within your new system.
- Develop a standardized naming convention for documents that will be in your knowledge library. Use plain-English in your naming conventions. If abbreviations are to be used, ensure they are easily understood. For example, if you are collecting templates for your employment law practice, create a main Employment Law folder, a pleadings sub-folder, and name your documents by type and point of difference, eg “Statement of Claim-harassment,” or “StatemtClaim-harass.”
- Ensure that updating your documents library regularly with all new and revised documents becomes part of your firm’s ordinary workflow. It should become standard practice that when a new template or research memorandum is completed in your office, it is added to your documents library upon completion.
- Save all templates in read-only format, so that they cannot be accidentally overwritten.
- Consider change management strategies, particularly for those who may be resisting or having difficulty adapting to your new knowledge management system. Users who do not wish to buy-in will develop their own, parallel knowledge management systems. That is probably not a good thing. Find a way to adapt your system to your real users’ preferences.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect. Knowledge management is a rapidly-emerging discipline, and the “gold standard” has not yet been achieved, anywhere. Rather than waiting for knowledge nirvana before acting, develop a system that meets your needs, improves your firm’s nimbleness in managing documents, and establishes best practices, simply by ensuring your staff and lawyers will always have ready access to your firm’s most current, complete and accurate templates and documents.
Many thanks to Connie for taking the time to provide us all with so much of her valuable expertise about knowledge management, today and in the future. These are great insights for law firms, both small and not-so-small.
So let’s start managing our knowledge.
– Garry J. Wise, Toronto (@wiselaw on Twitter)
Watch Your Spelling
Today’s tip is a quick reminder to think about the British/Canadian and US spellings and how that might affect your search string.
offence = offense
Offense in CanLII finds 227Alberta Appeal court decisions.
Offence in CanLII finds 4433 Alberta Appeal court decisions.
Happy Wednesday!
Canadian Weather Radar Will Answer the Question: Will It Rain Today?
Predicting the weather is both an art and a science, and getting it right in the longer term can involve some luck. But in the shorter-term, knowing for sure whether some rain is coming your way can be very helpful. Should I head to the golf course? Is my kid’s baseball game going to get cancelled? Do I take an umbrella for the walk to the subway?
My go-to resource for answering these kinds of questions is Government of Canada Canadian Weather Radar page for Ontario. It has a map of Ontario overlaid with current storms and links to more detailed maps for each of the radar stations in different parts of Ontario.
There is also a page which shows a map of the entire country overlaid with radar images of current storms and links to 31 radar stations.
If you look at any individual radar station map, you can even gauge how fast the rain is coming your way by hitting the “play” button to see the movement of the storm in 10 minute intervals over the last hour.
There are various other weather resources Canadian Weather site, but I find the radar pages to be the most helpful ones. And remember, you can get updates wherever you are with the browser on your smartphone.
The ‘Law Office Backyard Retreat’ Report
After much planning, and at least one eyeball fixed at all times on weather reports foreshadowing thunder, lightning, rain (and lions tigers and bears, oh my!) our Wise Law Office Backyard Retreat finally enjoyed its inaugural debut last Sunday.
I expect to have several SlawTips posts in the weeks ahead on the actual topics we discussed and the action plan that continues to emerge.
For today, I’m going to focus on the agenda, which is reproduced below.
WISE LAW OFFICE BACKYARD RETREAT AGENDA – June 8, 2014
11:00am – 11:15am – Introduction and objectives for the day (Garry)
11:15am – 11:30am – Review key insights from pre-meetings (Sandra)
11:30am – 12:30pm – Firm mission: Defining our promise to clients and our promise to ourselves
12:30pm – 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm – 2:30pm – The business of law is the hardest part of law – Garry
2:30pm – 2:45pm – Starting out as Lawyers: What we didn’t know before we started and what we’ve learned so far – Associate Lawyers
2:45pm – 3:00pm – Legal assisting/clerking: Challenges and Opportunities in a small firm (Assistants/Law Clerk)
3:00 – 3:30 Group discussion on efficiencies including:
- retainer replenishment procedures
- delegating in a more specific manner
- how to handle referrals
- holding bi-weekly meetings for a period of 15 minutes on Mondays
- protocols regarding our authority to communicate with clients and OC
- ways to improve through continuing education, CPD
3:15pm – 3:30pm – Marketing and advertising
- creative ways to market the firm at the front end including: use of social media, use of networking, blog posts, updated website
3:30pm – 4:30pm – Action plan (Garry and Sandra)
4:30pm – 4:45pm – Recap and next steps (Garry and Sandra)
As you will note, we covered quite a bit of territory. Everyone in the firm had an opportunity to present on at least one topic, and I think it probably added to the day that we were able to hear from each of our lawyers and staff members.
Sandra Bekhor, a consultant who works with law firms on practice development, marketing and branding (and who is my significant other) joined us for the day. She had gotten the ball rolling earlier in the week by conducting pre-meetings with everyone in our office to learn their perspectives on our firm identity, strengths, opportunities and challenges.
Her report at the beginning of the day recapped the views she heard, and that helped set the tone for the day. We were gratified to see that, collectively, we were all pretty much on the same page. That makes planning – and working together – a whole lot easier.
We didn’t make it through the entire agenda, and have agreed to do our remaining topics in later sessions next week.
All in all, it was a very successful day. It was a good thing, too, that I had an overstock of hoodies and sweatshirts available, for use by all as it got a bit chilly during the day.
And…. as far as Tips go, I can give you my 100% warranty on this – a small office retreat is a very good thing to do. It brings the group together outside the office, allows the time to talk about important issues that just can’t be covered during the ordinary work day, and gives everyone a chance to get to know each other (and their boss’s cooking ) a little bit better.
– Garry J. Wise, Toronto (@wiselaw on Twitter)
Read That URL – Again
The very first Research Tip on this blog was about reading the URL. That advice is the same today as it was back in January 2011. Understanding ‘where’ on the web you are getting information from is a useful skill.
Dan has written about phishing and there is a a good twist on Lifehacker that discusses how to boost your phishing detection skills. The skill set boils down to reading the URL and being aware of where you are vs. where you want to be.
What does this have to do with legal research? Reading a URL and understanding where the information you are gathering is posted is important. Is that decision you found through a link sitting on a website that you can safely cite to? Is it a Scribd item added to a news article? Aare you looking at something that has been uploaded for a purpose? Is the decision part of the course material from a law school open casebook? In what context is it being offered up?
Reading the URL is a good information gatehring practice. Today’s Tip: glance up and to the left and take note of the web address. Look to your status bar before clicking on a hyperlink that will take you down a research path that is not useful to you.
What to Buy – Free Advice on Current Specs for PC and Mac Desktops, Laptops and Servers
As a supplement to their great book, the 2014 Solo and Small Firm Legal Tech Guide 
(published by American Bar Association), my good friends Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek will share their take on the best current PC or Mac hardware options for desktops, servers or laptops. To get this informative document, simply send an email to [email protected] requesting the “current specs.”
Thanks Sharon and John for this very helpful resource!
Main Street..or Wal*Mart? Is It Time to Rethink Your Marketing Mix?
♫ These are the people of Walmart
Through mark downs, roll backs, and shopping carts
These are the people of Walmart
Where we save money and shop smart only at Walmart…♫
Lyrics, music and recorded by Jessica Frech.
They teach you in business school to carefully evaluate your ‘marketing mix”. When it comes to a law firm’s marketing mix, the discussion is typically centred around the 7 P’s of law firm service marketing:
- Product
- Promotion
- Place
- Price
- Physical Evidence
- People
- Processes
What is unique in North America is that there is a law firm – Axess Law – that has taken a bold step into rethinking the traditional marketing mix for a law firm.
Here is their contact info from their website for one of their offices:
What are their products? They state:
Whether you are looking for a real estate lawyer, an estates lawyer, a family lawyer, a notary public to notarize or commission your documents or a business lawyer to draft your business agreements, we can help you.
What is their promotion? This is from their website:
Axess Law has highly experienced, trained and dedicated lawyers and legal representatives on staff similar to what you would expect to find at any other law firm. Unlike other firms, our approach to law is refreshingly different. We believe that law should be accessible to all, should be available at times that suit you and at prices that make sense. ‘Law Made Easy’ is not just our trademarked slogan – it is the philosophy that guides our everyday business.
Their place is obviously just inside a Walmart store..with convenient hours and free parking.
Their prices are aimed at the Walmart shopper: They advertise the lowest legal fees in Ontario for home purchases (guaranteed! they say) and $99 personal wills.
Judging by their website, their physical evidence reflects their style: Simple, clean and uncomplicated. One major difference is that you won’t find the traditional listing of the lawyers in the firm with their stuffy bios. Their website is strictly focused on the consumer of their services.
Who are the people who deliver these services? They state: “Dynamic challenges. Amazing people. Your career starts here.” Their website is an active listing of the people that they are looking for to join them: …with the Law Clerk position listed first, then Client Service Associate and at the end, Lawyer.
What about their processes? Their motto is “Law Made Easy“.
This is one dynamic firm. They have obviously thought through their approach to the market and they are taking a different direction from most, if not all, of the law firms in North America today. These are the people – and the lawyers – of Walmart.
-David J. Bilinsky, Vancouver.
Limit Your Searches
One of the things that we teach at Head Start* programs is how to limit searching to the most relevant set of data that will lead quickly to an answer. Today’s Tip is to remember that a data set limit might be a jurisdiction, court level or date range or it could be deciding to look first to digests of cases rather than a full text source.
A student recently asked how many cases to use in a memo to illustrate his research findings. My response: only as many as you need to show binding or if not binding then persuasive authority to support your point. Limiting initial case law searching to sources of binding authority is a good step for a first sweep on an issue. Who knows – you may find an appropriate answer right away.
We also remind searchers in Head Start programs that a caselaw search isn’t the first step, but that is a tip that we have alluded to many times before.
* Head Start programs are legal research refresher seminars that are offered to articling students in various communities – see the upcoming CALL/ACBD Webinar on the SWOT of Law Library Head Start Programs for more information.
Using Two Monitors Will Help Get More Work Done and Save Money
On many occasions over the years I have written and spoken about the benefits of using two monitors in a law office setting – for both lawyers and staff.
Once you try two monitors, you will never go back. Having two monitors makes the preparation of documents, particularly complicated legal documents, much easier. When you can have the document you’re drafting on one screen and your legal research 
results on the other, it becomes a snap to cut and paste text directly from one to the other. Turn one of the monitors ninety degrees (“portrait” orientation). This allows you to view a complete page of a document at normal size without squinting. You could also use a second monitor to monitor your email.
And beyond making your drafting easier and faster, you will find you will save money as you will be printing less.
Unless your computer is truly a dinosaur, it’s pretty much plug and play to add that second screen. Even most laptops will easily accept a second monitor when you go into your display settings and select that option.
Monitors are fairly inexpensive to start with today, and you can save even more money if you buy a second monitor as part of the bundle when you buy a new computer.
Make the switch to two monitors – you will never look back.
The Law Office Backyard Retreat
We’re going to try something different next month – the First Annual Wise Law Office Backyard Retreat.
It will be a day-long, out-of-office session to explore planning and teamwork and to ask to ourselves some fundamental questions about what it is that we do as a law office.
There will, of course be food and festivity too, but ultimately, it will be an opportunity for our lawyers and staff to put our collective heads together to do some creative, directed brainstorming.
In the planning stages for this event, I’m having lots of thoughts as to the issues we should be addressing. But the one topic for discussion that keeps coming to my mind is this:
What are our firm’s “service promises” to our clients – and what can we do – collectively and individually – to ensure that we always keep those promises?
A corollary question also comes to mind:
What are our own professional promises to ourselves, and how do we as a firm support and enable our people to actualize those career goals and aspirations?
We are a small firm, and it might seem a bit high-fallutin’ (to some) that we would attempt to address such lofty topics. In an era of change and rapid evolution in our legal marketplace, however, my conclusion is that those who fail to take a hard look at the big questions and the big picture are probably missing out on major opportunities.
There are many excellent resources and consultants on law practice management, strategic planning for lawyers and law firm branding. I very much endorse the involvement of those resources and professionals, and I’ve invited Sandra Bekhor of Bekhor Management (full disclosure – my significant other) to participate and facilitate the opening session of our day. I expect that her added insight and expertise will be helpful in guiding us.
It will be very interesting to see the ideas that emerge from within our group.
Will we conceive of new systems for doing what we do better? Or develop ideas for better implementing technologies into our day-to-day work? Is it time for a new blogging strategy? Will a mission statement be articulated that we can all buy into? Maybe we will figure out how to get better at saving trees and being paperless. Or perhaps we will establish a more rapid method of responding to new client enquiries. Perhaps we can look at the nuts and bolts of the business of law, while also focusing on the quality of our professional lives.
Or perhaps we will just enjoy a (hopefully) sunny day together, sample exotic delicacies, vegetarian and otherwise, and walk away with a better sense of who we are as a firm and who we aspire to be as professionals.
If so, I expect it will be a very good day.
– Garry J. Wise, Toronto (@wiselaw on Twitter)
