Knowledge Tools in Legal Services Practice Marc Lauritsen NTAP Executive Leadership Roundtable June 17, 2010

Topics What does it mean to "work smart"? How can we enlist knowledge tools in the substance of legal work? Can they make us happier and more effective? Why don't we make more use of them?

Working dumb Needless repetition Unnecessary reinvention Forgetting to do things or making mistakes because you dont have a system...

Working smart Using and re-using knowledge wisely Preserving new knowledge responsibly Time-shifting and person-shifting Life-long learning (sharpening your saw) Crafting and wielding power tools

Different kinds of technologies Generic vs. law specific Periphery vs. core Foundational/infrastructural vs. strategic Sustaining vs. game-changing or disruptive

– Word processing – – Document management – Accounting – Telephony – Case management – Legal document assembly – Evidence & argument analyzers – Decision support tools Different kinds of technologies

What do legal professionals do? interview investigate researchanalyze educatecounsel plandraft negotiateadvocate

Roles that IT can play Facilitating human communication (storing/distributing knowledge) Augmenting people (extending the human mind) Performing cognitive tasks (autonomous knowledge work)

1. Storage and transport The material world – boats, trains, planes – ice houses, refrigeration – pickling, canning, mummification – electric batteries – flywheels The information world – brief banks – document management – – video conferencing – hypertext, infobases – multimedia – the contemporary Web, intranets, extranets – experience repositories

2. Extending human powers The material world – hammer, saw, chisel – plow – lever – telescope, microscope – power saw – X-rays The information world – text retrieval – spreadsheets – outliners – mind mapping – decision analysis – visualization – groupware

3. Performing independent work The material world – clock – windmill – steam engine – internal combustion engine – electric motor – industrial robots The information world – expert systems – document assembly – practice systems – rule-based calendaring – spiders and knowbots – data mining, rule induction – auto categorization and summarization

Legal aid examples 1 (storage/distribution) – Document management – Intranets, statewide websites 2 (mind extender) – Case mgt – Decision support 3 (autonomous knowledge work) – Document assembly – Benefit calculators

CaseMap

TIG

ToolKnowledge example Document assemblyWhat words go where when Decision supportWhat considerations support which options Case analysisWhat facts support which claims Dynamic questionnaireWhat information needs to be known, based on what is already known Intelligent checklistWhat tasks need to be done, based on what is known and has been done so far

Some management issues Economics of knowledge technology – balancing costs and benefits Egonomics – what inhibits and motivates people? Change management Build, buy, or borrow?

Closing Thoughts An effective way to get legal work done is to help clients do it some of it themselves Just thinking through how legal work could be improved with new tools often yields valuable insights Enlist staff in brainstorming about how their work could be improved with better systems