Bird & Bird (B&B) is an international commercial law firm that focuses on industries including aviation and aerospace, financial services, communications, e-commerce, IT, life sciences, media, and sport. The firm has offices in Beijing, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, The Hague, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Lyon, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rome, and Stockholm. B&B lawyers wanted to be able to access case histories and other legal reference materials online from any of the firm's 14 offices. The firm had a system called Solutions Lab designed to perform this task, but the system had failed to keep up with improvements in search technologies. B&B lawyers wanted a more powerful system. The knowledge management (KM) team at B&B collaborated with the information systems specialists to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into a new knowledge management system for the firm. They began by conducting focus groups to learn about the needs of the lawyers. All 14 offices were involved, and the results provided innovative ideas for serving the law firm's needs. Next, the team evaluated off-the-shelf KM products to see if any would suit their needs-unfortunately, none did. The KM team decided to custom design the KM system in-house and commission an external company to build it. They selected UCLogic, a document and knowledge management systems company. B&B lawyers wanted more powerful searching capabilities for finding topic-related content within documents stored in the KM system. The KM team found a search technology called concept Searching that provides more flexibility than traditional keyword search. Concept Searching allows the user to enter natural sentences that might include several key terms or topics and then applies artificial intelligence for impressive search results. After a few months of testing and refining the concept- Searching technology to the favor of the firm, the team designed the user interface for the new KM system. The resulting system was designed by the KM team, implemented by UCLogic, and incorporated by concept Searching. The KM team saved time and effort by using the internal and external repositories designed for use in the previous document management system. The new system was implemented gradually to ensure a smooth transition. Using the new "know-how" KM system, lawyers can now search in two areas: the firm's own internal document repositories, holding the relevant experience of those working in the firm, and external sources to which the firm subscribes such as LexisNexis. Using powerful AI technologies applied through concept Searching, the system yields tabulated results ranked by relevance. A second list of related topics is presented in a sidebar. Articles are ranked by "know-who"- the amount of hours invested in the work. The system allows the users to adjust search relevancy rankings to further refine the quality of results. Lawyers in the firm receive a one-page guide on using the system along with one-on-one training sessions as needed. Besides basic guides to the steps, the training has allowed the development team to meet with the lawyers and solicit new suggestions for the system. It has also increased overall usage by encouraging some lawyers who do not use online systems to try it at least once. Due to the increased contact between developers and users, the number of documents being submitted to the system is reaching record highs. Shortly after its successful roll out, the KM team is already hard at work on improvements to add in the next round of development.
Discussion Questions
1. How do knowledge management systems assist B&B lawyers in their research for cases?
2. What additional power does B&B's new "know-how" system provide for its lawyers?
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Why do you think the lawyers at B&B found traditional keyword searching insufficient for their needs?