Post by David Hobbie, ILTA KM SC
Survey Managed By Mara Nickerson, ILTA KM SC
The 2010 KM Survey was released as part of the June 2010 White Paper, and again as a separate document (with breakdowns by firm size) in December 2010. It was the second survey conducted by ILTA’s Knowledge Management peer group, the previous one was done in 2008.
The survey gives us the opportunity to look at trends and hot topics in the KM legal space. You might even want compare and contrast those listed here with Ron Friedmann’s March 2011 “What’s Hot In KM” post.
It also provides members of the peer group with information against which to measure their own KM initiatives. For instance, I’ve used the list of the primary areas of KM responsibility, as indicated in the survey for firms of my size, as background for an assessment of my own firm’s knowledge management program.
The survey suggests that primary areas of KM program activity are:
- Portal creation or development
- Enterprise search
- Strategy development
- Document management system implementation
- Email management
- Precedents work (what I call “substantive KM”)
- Matter management
- Supporting alternative financial arrangements
- Enhancing internal collaboration.
Looked at from a high-level perspective, such surveys of activity help point the way towards a competency framework, the subject of a subsequent post. Because it looks a wide range of activities in a variety of law firm sizes, it is a uniquely broad look at the state of legal KM.
The full survey results, with a summary of additional responses to some questions, and an indication of changes in trends from the 2008 survey, are provided in this report. We hope you find them useful.
ILTA KM 
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