ARK Group’s annual KM conference
This post was written by Kimberly Stein, manager of Solutions Software for Thomson Reuters
Over 100 KM professionals got together for the ARK Group’s annual Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession Conference in New York between Oct. 16-17. A good number of folks were new to the conference which shows a growing interest in the topic.
The primary theme involved the strategic context for KM in law firms today. Several sessions focused on the future of KM and tools that could help firms deals with some of the changes taking place in the legal market.
In order to move to the future, firms need to invest in some basic KM staples. KM is a tool that can have an immediate impact on an attorney’s efficiency. There is a wealth of knowledge buried in most firms’ DMS systems, hard to reach by those who need models to draft from. Instead of writing countless emails asking if others have key documents to help them, KM can provide the “go-to” documents and language for their reuse. Why interrupt the workflow for legal professionals if tools like West km can deliver it faster and deliver the results to WestlawNext and in the Word processor?
All in all, a great two days seeing some familiar faces and sharing ideas on how KM can enhance client relationships, differentiate firms from the competition and help win market share.