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A Law Firm Librarian's Guide to KM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2016

Hélène Russell
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Abstract

This article is written by Hélène Russell, author and teacher in the field of legal sector Knowledge Management. It presents an easy to read foundation level guide to legal sector Knowledge Management for law firm Information Professionals. It explains what Knowledge is, what Knowledge Management (KM) is, how it differs from Information Management (IM) and how law firm Information Professionals can expand their roles to help their organisations meet business goals through strategic KM as well as IM, or manage an imposed transition from IM to IM+KM.

Keywords

information managementknowledge managementinformation managersknowledge managerslaw firms
Type
Knowledge Management
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 131 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

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References

Footnotes

1 Davenport, and Prusak, , Working Knowledge (Harvard Business School Press, 2000)Google Scholar.

2 Griffiths, , Redefining KM: New Principles for Better Practice (Ark Group, 2011)Google Scholar.

3 Maister, , Managing the Professional Services Firm (Simon & Schuster UK, 2003)Google Scholar.

4 Nonaka, and Takeuchi, , The Knowledge-Creating Company (OUP, 1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Davenport, and Prusak, , Working Knowledge (Harvard Business School Press, 2000)Google Scholar.

6 It is unclear who first cited this relationship/hierarchy, but it has been in use in various forms since 1980s.

7 After 8 years of studying the field, I still find that Davenport and Prusak's Working Knowledge the clearest textbook for explaining these differences. These paragraphs are an adaptation from Chapter 1. Davenport, and Prusak, , Working Knowledge (Harvard Business School Press, 2000)Google Scholar.

8 Nonaka, and Takeuchi, , The Knowledge-Creating Company (OUP, 1995)Google Scholar.

9 KM has been studied as a science since 1990s, emerging to meet the needs of organisations such as Skandia.

10 There are many slightly different versions of this cycle. I find this one (my own adapted version) is easier for law firm employees to relate to.

11 http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/knowledge-management (accessed July 2016).

12 For more information about understanding Knowledge in these ways, have a look at the work of Griffiths, Polanyi and Blackler.

13 Rumizen, , The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knowledge Management (CWL Publishing Enterprises, 2002)Google Scholar.

14 For more information about these, and a practical guide to setting these up within your own firm, see Russell, , Practical Projects in Legal KM (Legal Monitor, 2015)Google Scholar.