What is legal knowhow
Legal knowledge is simply the corpus of statements, opinions, and beliefs about legal concepts, statutory provisions, and common law holdings. You will acquire a lot of legal knowledge in your law school classes. But that’s not enough to be successful in law school and in practice. I believe that it is best described as what you have learned about legal concepts, statutes, case law, analysis, and arguments on both the plaintiff and defense side in law school. As you can see, it encompasses every defendant and plaintiff position you’ve ever been taught.
You will build on this knowledge as you move through law school by mastering how to quickly retrieve this legal knowledge and apply it to your cases, exams, and clients. If you’ve ever had to prepare for an exam by quickly recalling all the legal concepts you’ve learned, you’ve engaged in some legal retrieval.
Legal retrieval is an active process that relies on your recalled learning and includes identifying, analyzing, and arguing the application of the legal concepts to your issue. So with that background in mind, I’d like to spend a few minutes discussing the legal knowledge and legal retrieval that lawyers must master to be successful in law school and practice.
We lawyers are knowledge workers. We use legal and other information to apply concepts for our clients. In a recent post, I discussed the two forms of legal knowledge relevant to law practice: substantive and procedural.
Substantive knowledge includes what’s necessary to understand the law. Examples include understanding what a "fourth-degree misdemeanor" is, or what points are covered in the Restatement (third) of Property.
Procedural knowledge includes knowing how and when to use substantive knowledge. This means knowing things such as what a "final judgment" is, when an appeal must be taken, or when a statute of limitation begins to run.
If that sounds easy , we’ll we both know it isn’t. There’s a huge difference between knowing a statement of the law (substantive knowledge) and knowing how that statement applies to your particular matter (procedural knowledge).
Most law students I know think about substantive knowledge. Unfortunately, without procedural knowledge, you ability to use your substantive knowledge for anything other than memorization is limited at best.
In large firm practice, you’ll be assigned to a resident expert who is already familiar with the case and the applicable law. All you really need to do is read the memo and attend the meeting. If you’re assigned to the lead partner, you’re likely to read the memo, get a half hour briefing, and call it a day.
But these same partners struggle to make a decision about a legal concept that they haven’t seen before. I have a friend who is struggling with whether a hotel room destroyed in a fire is a "total loss." It’s never come up before, and they’d like a brief from me so they can make a decision as to whether to fight the insured.
They practice in the insurance field, but this is one part of the field that they don’t have experience with or regular use. The hotel room loss is a new concept with regard to policy. And so they struggle to quickly find the answer.
In small firm practice though, you are the expert on whatever issue your client has. You can discuss the law with your client and give them informed recommendations. Bringing together the substantive knowledge with the procedural knowledge should create a coherent whole for the client.
Knowing that you need to ask a partners or senior associate (or me) what you need to learn about a new issue, is the hard part of being a legal professional. You know how to retrieve information and you know the material. What you may not know is what you don’t know about this concept.
Being able to put together a concise list of 5-10 questions to ask about unfamiliar concepts is vital to being proficient as an attorney. It’s simply an extension of the legal retrieval process.
The legal knowhow inventory
To build a solid inventory in the legal knowledge realm one must first understand what it consists of. The following are some of the various components that make up a legal knowledge inventory:
Volumes of case law that have been organized into easy to find topical areas.
Statutes that have been indexed into specific subject areas.
A list, in each topical index, of federal law by citation and state law by citation.
A list of federal regulations by title, cross-referenced to the enabling statute.
A listing of separate codes within the U.S.C. (U.S. Code Annotated or U.S.C.A.) that apply to specific areas of interest.
A list of cases arranged by citations to specific chapters, as opposed to the entire volume.
A list of cases arranged by citation to the old codes that no longer exist.
A listing of judicial opinions arranged by topical areas.
A listing of practice aids and forms that apply to specific areas of law.
A list of legal theories that are listed on the various indexes.
A list of cases that are known as seminal within each area of law.
A list of forms that apply to specific areas of practice.
A list of general sorts of forms that belong to each area, so that one can locate the actual form that is of interest.
A listing of practice manuals for areas of law or group of states.
A listing of monographs applicable to specific areas of law.
A list of encyclopedic materials applicable to specific areas of law.
A list of treatise materials applicable to specific areas of law.
A list of forms that are available for specific topical areas of law.
A list of pleadings: Complaints, Answers and Reply Briefs, etc.
Creating a legal knowhow library
Creating a comprehensive legal library involves both traditional print forms and digital tools, including cloud-based solutions. The latter, of course, are making the whole process less burdensome and expensive. That said, here is a basic plan to start with. (It should be noted that this is primarily intended for US lawyers, but that knowledge tools are helpful no matter where you practice.)
Step 1: Local Law
Using your browser or a local library, make a list of the statutes, juristic rules, codes and regulations that you refer to on a regular basis.
Step 2: General Law
Speak or email a legal publications provider, such as Thomson Reuters, Cheetah or Kluwer and ask for a catalog of relevant books and treatises. Make a list of those you want.
Step 3: Find Out the Resources You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know
This is a little harder and some legwork is involved, such as the reference librarian in the local law library. Other online resources include:
Step 4: Get These Items
Start buying, beginning with the most well-used. You can even borrow some from the law library to see how much you really need the item.
Step 5: Adopt Cloud Systems for General Knowledge
Once you have built your basic library, you are ready to incorporate e-source materials, such as:
A comprehensive library will help you establish a long-term relationship with your firm’s repository of legal knowledge.
The impact of technology on legal knowledge management
The role of technology in legal knowledge management cannot be understated. It allows for the seamless storage, retrieval, and dissemination of complex information while also fostering collaboration and collaboration across teams, organizations and industries. The vast array of analytic and research tools presently available to legal professionals empowers them to conduct deeper and more sophisticated analyses in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise. Data is transferred and stored faster than at any point in human history, which facilitates many other aspects of the practice of law, such as case management and client interaction.
Essentially, technology empowers the legal professional to go beyond rudimentary document retention programs and unlock the very heart of the law: knowledge. It is not an end unto itself; technology allows law firms to manipulate knowledge in more meaningful and productive ways.
For instance, several platforms feature an AI-powered search engine that exists to allow legal professionals to immediately find documents, as if they were asking a question to a fellow lawyer, by way of natural language processing. Analysts no longer have to pull through person-per-page VAT sheets and pages of tax information to find relevant case law. From stationary docs to generated reports, these systems allow for attorneys to transfer multiple case documents into a single repository, where it is easy to search by keyword or category.
In the same vein, project management software allows stakeholders to easily navigate between different tasks and tasks without getting lost. Digitized system for document storage means that hard copies are no longer needed, and numerous versions of the same document are stored in multiple places. In addition to data processing and entry points, a modern practice of law utilizes technology to empower legal professionals to do their job faster and better.
legal knowhow and professional development
A robust inventory of legal knowledge is essential for every member of a law firm to have as part of their professional development for numerous reasons. One of the biggest ways a strong inventory of legal knowledge helps is by being connected to colleagues who have become strong subject matter experts in various areas of the law. Also, with so much knowledge being shared, collaborating with colleagues can help you find those nuggets of gold when it comes to best practices in either substantive or administrative areas.
Another major reason to have such an inventory is that it allows you to find out which colleagues are thought leaders either from a business development or substantive practice area perspective. As a legal knowledge professional, I put a lot of time into tracking these individuals and getting our inventory of legal knowledge across the firm. As a result, I have come to know who the best professors, CLE speakers, and authors in certain areas are . Moreover, with my LinkedIn network being a mixture of thought leaders and experts, I frequently see articles and posts on subjects lawyers are interested in. By actively participating in the legal community, a significant portion of which is active on social media you can drive your legal knowledge and professional development.
In addition to all of the above, a comprehensive inventory also opens up the door to other opportunities. For example, over the years I have had many firms reach out to me because they are interested in implementing a consistent cross-firm inventory of legal knowledge and were looking for advice. By working on projects of this scale, I am able to see how everyone else is doing things. As a result, even though I will not be there to implement, it gives me the perspective for what works and does not when it comes to rollouts of new systems and processes.
One final area where having a robust inventory of legal knowledge is helpful is in your career. Having a strong inventory means that you have a cross-firm network that is able to help you navigate whichever trajectory your career takes.
legal knowhow inventory challenges
As previously noted, an inventory of a legal knowledge may include both substantive law and practice guidance, and there are many useful sources of such resources. The challenge is to keep that inventory current over time, as laws become obsolete or new materials become available. Technology is a double-edged sword. On one hand, practitioners have more access to legal authorities than ever before: free sites, paid subscription services, etc. Yet at the same time, too often, practitioners are inundated with much too much information — some of which is not current or accurate. Maintaining a reliable inventory of law requires using responsibility sources of information, and turning to colleagues, and others, to vet such sources. There is a wealth of information — and yet a much of that information is not more than repackaged information from other sources, which too often is not even updated in a timely manner. Tools which can be leveraged in this regard include social networks to which practitioner can turn to verify the current version of a statute or regulatory authority, etc. (whether one of the many "sources of legal knowledge," or a bar association or other legal organization). There is much to absorbing, maintaining, and using the inventory of legal knowledge over time.
creative means of sharing legal knowledge
To maximize the benefit of the knowledge possessed by an organization’s in-house legal team, there must be a strategy in place to ensure that this information can be effectively shared throughout the organization. Without this crucial step, there is a significant risk that knowledge will be lost when a member of the in-house legal team departs. Though your organization may have an extensive library of legal resources, it is possible that your in-house team has not documented valuable internal knowledge and insights that form an integral part of your organization.
The best way to ensure that knowledge is effectively shared is to implement a formal procedure to capture legal insights and make those insights available to the rest of the organization. A central knowledge management system can be a powerful tool to effectively share this information and establish an organization-wide understanding of the legal landscape . The clear advantage of centralizing your legal knowledge is that it provides an easy means of distributing and managing your in-house team’s legal insights, fostering a shared understanding of legal risks and critical issues while providing easy reference materials for non-legal personnel.
While such formal systems are certainly helpful, it is also important to devise informal strategies to create a culture of collaboration in your organization. A culture of collaboration can help to ensure that your organization will remain a frontrunner long after your most valuable homegrown legal resource takes another offer.
Embedding knowledge sharing into your organization’s daily routine is a great way to facilitate the free flow of information within your legal team. One effective way to do this is to invite opinions and reviews from your peers on various issues during a weekly meeting, for instance, or to use a corporate chat client that enables your team members to hold legal discussions about their experiences with internal clients. For this to work effectively, however, teams need to leverage key economic drivers to encourage knowledge sharing and to reinforce the sustainability of this practice.