First Post--Litigation Knowledge Management Blog, "Caselines"

As a blog is a means of communicating news and theories, and real communication is improved by readers and authors having some common ground, I am beginning by a few words about who I am and what I am trying to do.

I am the litigation knowledge management attorney at a large law firm, Goodwin Procter LLP. Not surprisingly, I came to knowledge management from a background as a practicing litigator at two other firms. I used to litigate in such areas as deinked pulp mills, visitation rights for nonbiological parents, trade secrets, and zoning. (If you can find a common thread in those topics, you're smarter than me.) I've practiced in a 350+ attorney law firm and in an office of no more than 20 attorneys.

Part of what interests me about knowledge management is how it can potentially help attorneys avoid some of the confusion, drudgery, and anxiety that practicing law sometimes entails. Having a top-quality example of the same kind of pleading that you are trying to draft can be of tremendous benefit and reassurance. Talking to someone who has already appeared in front of the judge you are about to argue before, or who has previously hired the expert you are about to stake your case on, likewise can be of great value. Technology provides one means to share information such as this, but not the will or the culture that are just as necessary. Legal KM is about the technology and also the processes and cultures neccessary for attorneys to use, share, and reuse their skills and work product.

Currently I'm working on the implications and uses of collaborative software, such as Enterprise 2.0; internal expertese identification; enterprise search; and matter management.

Your comments and views are most welcome.