Alexander Horwitz, COO of Legal Services NYC, and Kate Boyd, COO of Sente Advisors, dive into the groundbreaking KM portal designed to improve access to justice. They discuss the challenges of knowledge sharing within legal services and the innovative features that make the portal stand out. With a focus on enhancing collaboration among over 500 attorneys, they explore how the initiative addresses generational knowledge transfer and the balance of technology in client service. Their collaboration earned the prestigious LexPrize, highlighting the impact of their work.
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Quick takeaways
Legal Services NYC developed an award-winning KM portal to preserve essential knowledge and enhance collaboration among its legal professionals.
The implementation strategy included user-friendly training to ensure adoption of the KM portal amidst the busy schedules of attorneys.
Deep dives
Generational Knowledge Loss in Legal Services
The organization is facing a significant generational turnover, with many veteran attorneys nearing retirement after decades of service. This turnover means that essential knowledge and insights developed over 40 years are at risk of being lost when these attorneys leave their positions. As a solution, there is a concerted effort to preserve and institutionalize this knowledge within the organization, avoiding the loss of what is described as a 'library' of expertise. This initiative is vital for maintaining the quality and continuity of legal services, particularly as the organization serves a vulnerable population in need.
Development of a Knowledge Management Portal
The winning entry for the inaugural Lex Prize was the creation of a custom knowledge management (KM) portal designed specifically for Legal Services NYC. This portal aims to facilitate better collaboration among legal professionals by providing easier access to vital resources while preserving valuable knowledge. The project was undertaken in collaboration with Sente Advisors, focusing on creating a solution that combines technology, process, and people without requiring significant financial investment. It was essential for the portal to enhance operational efficiency while also being user-friendly and adaptable to the existing workflows of the organization.
Challenges of Implementation and Adoption
Implementing the KM portal presented unique challenges, particularly regarding user adoption amidst the demanding schedules of legal professionals. Many lawyers are often overwhelmed with client cases and have little time or capacity to engage with new tools. To address these challenges, the rollout strategy included training sessions designed to demonstrate how the portal could save time and increase efficiency in their daily tasks. By framing the portal as a supportive tool aimed at enhancing their work rather than adding more burden, the team successfully fostered acceptance and enthusiasm for the new system.
Future Opportunities and Scalability
Looking forward, the organization aims to further develop the KM portal by exploring additional features and ensuring document accessibility across all users. The solution is designed to be scalable and could potentially be adapted by other smaller legal services organizations with limited resources. This adaptability is crucial, as it allows knowledge management best practices to be shared across the sector, helping more organizations meet their clients' needs efficiently. Ultimately, the goal is to contribute to elevating access to justice for underserved communities while simultaneously facilitating knowledge sharing among legal service providers nationwide.
At the Knowledge Management and Innovation for Legal Conference held recently in New York City, Legal Services NYC was named as the inaugural winner of the LexPrize award, which is designed to recognize groundbreaking ideas in knowledge management and innovation for the legal industry. It won for its development of the Legal Services NYC KM Portal, a custom-built knowledge management portal designed to enable its legal professionals to more easily access important resources and more effectively collaborate with each other.
LSNYC, whose 12 offices and more than 500 attorneys serve nearly 110,000 clients annually, developed the portal in partnership with Sente Advisors, a company that helps law firms and legal organizations develop innovative projects. Designed to be a home for user-submitted and curated knowledge that is easily searchable, LSNYC describes the portal as one part social network, one part intranet, and one part enterprise search.
LawNext host Bob Ambrogi was at the KM&I for Legal conference and had the opportunity to sit down there with two of the people who were instrumental in the portal’s design and development:
Kate Boyd, chief operating officer at Sente Advisors.
In today’s episode, Horwitz and Boyd share the story of the problem they set out to solve, the constraints they had to work within, and how they went about doing it.
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